It just takes one idea to change people’s lives.
Lincoln Trail fourth-grade student Levi Avery found that out Friday morning as his class delivered 1,637 pounds of food to Mahomet Helping Hands.
Avery hoped the school of nearly 700 students could collect at least 700 to 1,000 pounds.
Avery came up with the idea to host a food drive at Lincoln Trail in November after he read “Maddie’s Fridge,” which addresses childhood hunger by following two girls who come from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
After talking to his mother, Avery connected with Assistant Principal Courtney Porter, who helped him form a six-member committee to plan a food drive.
From February 20-23, the committee encouraged their peers to bring in non-perishable items to donate. Using shopping carts lent by Mahomet IGA, the committee went class to class to collect the food, then stored behind the stage in the cafeteria.
“My favorite part was seeing how many people were so generous to donate for people who don’t have anything,” Avery said.
His idea not only helped people with food, but it also impacted his entire class.
All 28 students in Kara Allison’s fourth-grade class rode over to Mahomet Helping Hands on a bus to help carry the food in, weigh it, then put it on tables for sorting tomorrow.
“Maybe if my food drive could keep going we could do it next year and the year after that,” he said.
