COVINGTON, Ga. - Newton County School System students and staff have once again stepped up to the plate to help the local community by collecting food for those less fortunate. During the school system’s annual Can-A-Thon, a total of 20,009 items of food were collected.
“I am very proud of the hard work of everyone at the sites that participated in the 2018 NCSS Fall Can-A-Thon,” NCSS School Social Worker, George Hutchinson, who coordinates the district’s annual canned food drive, said. “Our students, faculty and staff collected almost more than 21,000 items this year, 44 percent more than in 2017. These items will be of tremendous benefit to our local food pantries in meeting the needs of our community in the coming year. I am very impressed at the generosity of our NCSS people!”
The Newton College & Career Academy led the way this year, collecting more than 4,400 cans for the food drive. Newton County Theme School collected 3,560 cans and Oak Hill Elementary and Mansfield Elementary collected 2,100 and 2,632 respectively. Not to be outdone, the Newton County School System central office collected 2,797 cans this year. Flint Hill hit the 1000 can mark, collecting 1,131 food items this year for the annual canned food drive.
“The NCSS Can-A-Thon was such a great success because it was a team effort involving all of our students and employees,” Samantha Fuhrey, NCSS superintendent, said. “When you look at the numbers and see how much food was collected it’s absolutely amazing—21,009 cans of food! And every single can will stay right here in Newton County to help residents in our community. Through their efforts, the students and employees of our school system have helped put food on the table for so many families in our community who are in need. Words cannot begin to describe how proud I am of their tremendous support of the NCSS Can-A-Thon!”
Schools and offices participating in the NCSS CANathon collected the following amounts:
East Newton Elementary: 416
Fairview Elementary: 559
Newton County Theme School: 3,560
Flint Hill Elementary: 1,131
Heard-Mixon Elementary: 255
Live Oak Elementary: 150
Livingston Elementary: 169
Oak Hill Elementary: 2,100
Mansfield Elementary: 2,632
Porterdale Elementary: 342
South Salem Elementary: 700
West Newton Elementary: 953
Cousins Middle: 645
Indian Creek Middle: 30
Veterans Memorial Middle: 161
Newton College & Career Academy: 4,409
BOE/Central Office: 2,797
