Students collect 2,300 cans of food

KENNETT SQUARE » Nearly 9 percent of families and 1,903 children ages 5 to 17 live in poverty in the Kennett Consolidated, Avon Grove, Unionville-Chadds Ford and Oxford Area school districts, according to a recent report on the poor and homeless. More startling, those figures represent a 65 percent increase in childhood poverty in southern Chester County in the past five years.

Students at Bancroft are doing their part to help out. On Friday, they collected more than 2,300 cans of food that will be delivered to the Kennett Area Food Cupboard. It is more than 700 cans greater than last year’s food drive.

“By donating food, we help other people in our community that need help,” Bancroft teacher Sara Simasek told students gathered at an assembly Friday morning. “The idea of helping others is really important and it’s why we have a food drive.”

When Simasek asked students why a food drive is important, one student replied “Because people right here in our community need help.”

Last year, volunteers distributed $393,000 worth of food to 730 families through the food cupboard. About 88 percent of the food comes directly from the community in the form of community food drives, partnerships with local farmers and grocers, community and family gardens and individual donations.

Following the assembly, all grades marched around the school in a Walk for Hunger.

“We’re raising awareness because Bancroft is a very caring community,” Simasek said. “This is a way to draw attention to those in need of food and hope.”

According to a recent study undertaken by United Way of Southern Chester County, nearly 15 percent of the population in Avondale lives at or belowthe poverty line, 12 percent in Oxford, 8.3 percent in West Grove and 7.5 percent in Kennett.