JAY – Students and staff at the Jay Elementary School recently collected 18 boxes of nonperishables to give to the Tri-Ministerial Food Cupboard.

An organizer, Donna Labbe, checked with a representative of the cupboard to see what was needed most. The pantry serves families in Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls.

Each classroom’s students from prekindergarten to fourth had a job to do. There was the bean room, the marshmallow room, the pasta room and other rooms where they concentrated on bringing in one type of item.

Boxes lined a portion of the corridor outside Labbe’s room.

There were lots of jars of Marshmallow Fluff, canned baked beans, rice, pasta, canned vegetables, jelly, canned fruit, and pasta sauces.

Educators tried to instill in students that it is important to give back, teacher Elaine Fitzgerald said.

One student had his eye on a can of Spaghettio’s, something he hadn’t had in a long time, Labbe said, but she told him that it was to go the food cupboard.

Fourth-grader Jacob Richards said the food will help.

Cameron Cain, a first-grader, said he brought in a can of chicken soup, and kindergartner Ian Salvati brought in a can of potatoes.

“I thought this would mean a lot to people who cannot afford food for their family,” fourth-grader Kylee Jackson-Revee said.

Fourth-grader Jason Griffin said he hopes the food will help the elderly.

“I want to give food away for the elders,” he said.