Cedar Rapids students donate food to Metro Catholic Outreach

CEDAR RAPIDS - A group of fourth- and fifth-grade students at All Saints Elementary School in Cedar Rapids spent the month of November collecting non-perishable food items - amassing enough to fill 21 cardboard boxes - that they donated to the local Metro Catholic Outreach on Tuesday.

Students completed the project as members of the 'Bruins' Boosters,” a rotating group of students from the Catholic school's fourth and fifth grades that completes a service project every month.

Seeing the project through from start to finish, All Saints Elementary School Principal Megan Boomgarden said, helps students learn about their community while improving it.

'It really humbles our students to know there are others out there that are less fortunate than ourselves,” Boomgarden said. 'It helps us to give back to the community when we've all been given so much, especially over the Thanksgiving holiday season.”

Every class could make donations to the project, according to a news release from the school. The Bruins Boosters collected food every morning from staff members and their classmates at All Saints Elementary, 720 29th St. SE, where about 185 kindergarten through fifth-grade students are enrolled.

Students also helped sort and stock the donations at Metro Catholic Outreach, which provides a food pantry and is supported by 11 local Catholic parishes.

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