As part of an end-of-year project, fourth graders at Underwood Elementary School partnered with the Newton Food Pantry last month to collect more than 100 bags of food for kids dealing with food insecurity. 

Donations were collected from the Underwood community for the last several weeks of the school year. The project began in late April with a study of social change movements, including the women’s suffrage movement. In a press release written by Underwood teacher Caitlin Cusick’s fourth grade class, the students noted that they learned how children around the world have taken part in social movements before deciding to focus on tackling food insecurity in Newton. 

The original goal was to fill 50 “Kids’ Bags,” which contain items such as macaroni and cheese cups, granola bars, oatmeal pouches, fruit snacks and juice boxes, which are donated to and distributed by the Newton Food Pantry. Students collected more than 100 Kids’ Bags in total, each one decorated with positive messages and colorful drawings.

Underwood fourth grade students carry their Kids’ Bags filled with donations. Photo courtesy of Caitlin Cusick

“The food drive exceeded every expectation,” said Underwood Principal Dr. Sujan Talukdar in the press release. 

Writing a press release about the food drive was the final part of the project. The curriculum has been in place for three years, but this was the first year the fourth grade students were involved in an extended community engagement project as part of the end-of-year language arts unit. Fourth grade students at Newton’s other elementary schools chose different social issues to focus on, such as elderly loneliness. 

As part of the project, students volunteered with Gaining Ground to learn about growing food to address food insecurity. The Concord-based nonprofit has grown organic vegetables and herbs for donation for 30 years. 

“They just dove right in, got their hands dirty, spreading the compost, carrying heavy buckets and really working together,” Cusick said. “At the end of the year, we do a lot of reflection of what were [their] favorite parts of the year, and this unit of study was a unanimous favorite.” 

Ella Helming, one of Cusick’s students, said she learned a lot about struggles with food insecurity around the world and how she can play a part in helping out. 

“I loved to see what they were growing and how all the food there went to people who needed it most,” she said of the volunteer experience at Gaining Ground. “We got a big tour of the place … It was really cool.”

During the project, students were split into different groups to focus on operations, community engagement, advertising and logistics. 

“They divided into teams based on what they thought were their best skillsets … and it was awesome to see how they identified their own strengths and what team they thought they would best serve on,” Cusick said. 

Underwood students filled more than 100 Kids’ Bags with food donations. Photo courtesy of Caitlin Cusick

The students also took part in making posters, writing emails and raising awareness of food insecurity among other students, parents and teachers at the school. They also learned how to maintain an inventory in Google Sheets of the items collected. 

“It’s really nice when you have a kid who comes home from school and the problem that they are working on is interesting enough that they really want to tell you about it,” said Vanessa Lipschitz, Ella’s mom. “It was done in the context of addressing a real world problem that the kids really grew to care about, and you could sense that excitement.”

Lipschitz added that the project seemed like a great example of the Newton Public Schools Portrait of a Learner competencies, such as adaptability, critical thinking and empathy, which she said are not always as clear in other types of classroom instruction. 

Cusick said her students loved checking on the donation boxes throughout the day to see how much the Underwood community had collected so far. Ella shared a similar sentiment. 

“My favorite part of this food drive was probably getting to come and collect all the food every day that people donated,” Ella said. “It made me feel happy that other people cared about this problem as much as I do.”