George D. Lewis students held a food drive to benefit the CAW Louisbourg Food Bank. Almost 1,000 food items were collected. Some of the participating students, from the left, were Hannah MacKeigan, Candace Hutchison, Kailey MacKay, Adam Harpell and Josh Kennedy.
Greg McNeil - Cape Breton Post

LOUISBOURG — A local food bank was the real winner in a competition designed to teach students of George D. Lewis the importance of helping their community.
The food drive asked classes to bring in food items for the CAW Louisbourg Food Bank. The class that brought in the most received a free hour of gym time.
“We were doing character education and it was one of the ideas that they brainstormed on how they could help out people who were less fortunate than themselves,” said Lorna Minihan, a teacher at the school.
“All they had to do was bring in whatever they thought would be helpful to the less fortunate.”
The contest also helped many of the students actually realize there were people in need in their community.
“It is good to help people,” said student Kailey MacKay, who said all of the students enjoyed the friendly competition.
“I took in a couple of different things.”
At the end of the competition week almost 1,000 food items were collected, from spaghetti to shampoo and everything in between.
“When I was talking to the food bank, they explained this year was the highest need they had seen in a long time,” said Minihan.
“They did 73 baskets for Christmas which is a really big number when you consider we are in a small area.”
Besides helping the food bank, many school lessons — such as math, basic nutrition and public speaking — were incorporated into the contest.
Incidentally, the contest was won by the school’s Grade 2/3 class.

gmcneil@cbpost.com