BUCKEYE GIVES BACK — Pupils at Buckeye West Elementary School are helping others this holiday season by holding a Thanksgiving food drive for 20 families. Turkey and all the trimmings are being donated to help those in the school community. Classes are racing to gather the most goods in order to win an ice cream party. However, the real reward is to give back to others, school officials stated. Among those taking part in the donation are from left, front, Lukas Stoltey, Remington Fellure, Maverick Opic and Ma’leek Smith; second row, Mia Kovalski, Sammie Jo Foldi and Rylee Becker; and back, Principal Brian DiCola, Isabella Glauser, School Nurse Mandi Cook and Robert Glauser. -- Contributed

ADENA — Buckeye West Elementary School is doing its part to fill the tables of local families this Thanksgiving season. Pupils and school officials are collecting items for the second-annual holiday food drive.

The school began collecting non-perishable goods Nov. 2 and will provide turkeys with all the trimmings to some its own families.

School nurse Mandi Cook is spearheading the effort. She explained meals will be distributed prior to the Thanksgiving break. She noted items will be collected through Friday.

“We want to be able to provide for 20 families,” Cook said. “It went really well last year and it’s something we discussed doing yearly.”

Turkeys were donated and the children were tasked with bringing in either boxed or packaged foods for the collection.

Preschoolers were responsible for bringing canned fruit; kindergarten pupils collected muffin mix and cornbread mix; first-graders were in charge of gravy packets; second-graders, noodles; third-graders, cranberry sauce; fourth-graders, stuffing; fifth-graders, macaroni and cheese; and sixth-graders, overseeing boxed desserts, canned pie filling and boxed pie crusts.

Officials said the goal was to ensure all of the families have a meal to share together for Thanksgiving. To make the project even more fun, the classes were given an incentive to raise the most food items and the winner with the highest amount of donations will earn an ice cream party.

“But the real reward is simply giving back to the community,” Cook said. “The purpose is to be able to provide a meal for the families so all of us can enjoy one on Thanksgiving. It does benefit all of the families from this elementary school.”

The meals will be distributed Monday and Tuesday. For those who can not attend the distribution, Cook and Principal Brian DiCola will deliver the boxes to their homes.

DiCola said a few extra households will be helped since last year, and the school is excited to make a difference.

“We have a couple more families this year and we try to take care of everybody,” he concluded.