Carroll schools donate food instead of tossing it
Unopened milk, other fare being collected in 6-week test program
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Related Content
Most-read stories
- Huge Arlington fixer-upper with a shady past could be yours for pittance
- 2 men die in separate Fort Worth motorcycle wrecks
- T.O. offers counsel to latest wayward Dallas Cowboys player
- Four Hurst teens indicted on capital murder charges
- Man died driving home to surprise mom for Mother's Day
Most e-mailed stories
- Huge Arlington fixer-upper with a shady past could be yours for pittance
- Allstate to cut rates in Texas after settlement
- Schools vie for new teachers at Arlington job fair
- Hot jobs for teens in a cool market
- Huge Arlington fixer-upper with a shady past could be yours for pittance
SOUTHLAKE -- Students at two Carroll district schools hope to help turn lunchroom leftovers into food for needy neighbors.
During a six-week pilot program that began Friday, children at Old Union and Rockenbaugh elementary schools can donate unopened milk and untouched food from the cafeteria to charity. The Tarrant Area Food Bank picks up the food twice a week and will make it available to relief agencies such as food pantries, senior centers and after-school programs.
Marlene Eldred, a parent volunteer at Old Union, created Little Hands Big Hearts, which oversees the program, after noticing that some students were throwing away uneaten food and bottles of milk.
Under federal law, students who buy the school district's lunch must get a bottle of milk, but not all of them drink it. Juice is substituted for lactose-intolerant students, officials said.
"I started seeing all the food -- packaged, sealed -- being thrown away. I started thinking, 'There are these children who are hungry, why can't we do something about this?'" said Eldred, who has three children at Old Union. "The whole goal is not to take food off of children's trays. They want them to eat all of it, but we see that is not happening, so we have a responsibility to help out the community."
Old Union students donated 305 bottles of milk during a weeklong test in December. From Friday to Wednesday, students at the campus donated 193 bottles, Eldred said.
Students are still encouraged to drink their milk and eat their entire lunch, said Lori Allison, Old Union's interim principal.
"There will be continued education," Allison said. "We want to make sure they understand that they are to eat their well-balanced meal. But should they have anything left over, they do have the option of donating it."
After eating, students give untouched food to a parent volunteer in the cafeteria. To ensure safety, they can't donate food from home, but they can donate intact food bought from the cafeteria, including single-serving bottles of milk, fruit and bags of chips or carrots, Eldred said.
The food is stored in a donated refrigerator. The food bank picks up the goods on Wednesdays and Fridays in a refrigerated truck that is in Southlake to collect excess bread from the Central Market grocery store.
Maddie Hudson, a second-grader at Old Union, finished her chocolate milk, spaghetti and apple during lunch Wednesday but said she was too full to eat a fruit cup.
"I donated my fruit because I wanted to help people who don't have food that we have," said Maddie, 8.
Food bank officials plan to analyze data on how much food is collected and gauge the interest of food bank agencies to see whether the program is feasible, said Andrea Helms, food bank spokeswoman.
"We think it is a wonderful idea and it's a terrific concept," Helms said. "Half of our mission is rescuing food so it is not wasted."
Online: www.southlakecarroll.edu
By the numbers
Lunch donations at Old Union Elementary School on Wednesday:
73 milk bottles
80 fruit cups
15 bags of carrots
15 bags of potato chips
5 apples
Source: Little Hands Big Hearts
jessamybrown@star-telegram.com
