Bowling Green K-Kids Give Back During Holiday Season

The K-Kids gave thanks for all that they have by giving back to their community through a variety of service projects.  Engaging in a 12-day marathon of service, the Bowling Green K-Kids ran a school-wide food drive, supplied Thanksgiving meals for eight needy Bowling Green families, donated 14 cartons of food to the East Meadow Kiwanis Club, helped the East Meadow Kiwanis Club sort thousands of donated food items into 120 food baskets for needy East Meadow families and helped the EMHS Key Club decorate for and serve approximately 350 local senior citizens a hot Thanksgiving meal.

The K-Kids marathon of Thanksgiving service began on Nov. 8, when the Food Drive Committee created tally sheets and prepared a letter seeking donations that was sent home with students.  K-Kids President Julianne Hallett and a different Food Drive Committee member made morning announcements each day of the drive including updates, encouragement and thank you's.  On alternate mornings, the Food Drive Committee Co-Chairs Antonia Iannucci and Katharine Barahona led committee members as they picked up the donations and carefully counted each class' donation.

At the end of the food drive, over 2,000 food items had been donated.  First and second place trophies were presented to Ms. Kane-Pasant's and Ms. Bartoszek's classes, who each donated approximately 300 food items.

K-Kids Faculty Advisor Rich Santer was pleased that the K-Kids decided to continue this challenging service project.  He commended Food Drive Co-Chairs Antonia, Katharine and the entire Food Drive Committee for being so dedicated to the project.  Their efforts led to this year's drive collecting more than twice as much food as last year's.

Steve Sacks, the school's social worker who coordinated the delivery of the collected food to the eight families, also praised the K-Kids.

"To my knowledge, this is the largest collection Bowling Green has had in the 57 years the school has had a drive," Sacks said.

As the school week ended, the K-Kids' service continued throughout the weekend. Beginning on Friday evening, over 20 K-Kids joined Builders Clubbers, Key Clubbers and Kiwanians for food sorting at .  A large cafeteria was filled with two truckloads of donated food.  The K-Family members worked side by side to sort the food into categories such as gravy, cranberry sauce, juice, pasta, rice, vegetables, yams, breakfast cereal and potatoes.  The food was packed into the 120 baskets which the Kiwanians delivered the next morning.

On Saturday afternoon, the K-Kids, Builders Clubbers and Key Clubbers met at East Meadow High School to transform the gym into a zoo, in keeping with this year's theme, for Sunday's Senior Citizen Thanksgiving Dinner.

Sunday morning brought East Meadow's K-Family back together to serve a hot Thanksgiving Dinner to over 350 senior citizens.  The K-Kids welcomed each guest with a printed program and presented carnations to all the ladies. 

After the senior citizens were all seated and served their dinners, the K-Kids passed Kamp Kiwanis donation boxes through the gym, collecting over $300 to help send a needy child to summer camp.

The K-Kids are looking forward to the rest of the holiday season and the many opportunities to give back to their community that the holidays bring.  In the next few weeks, the Bowling Green K-Kids will be making ornaments for the community tree, holding a Holiday Fest fundraiser for Kamp Kiwanis, caroling for the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center and helping the East Meadow Kiwanis Club sort holiday food baskets.