Breakfast is on Unionville’s Sanville for Kennett’s Tomasetti
Volunteers sort through thousands of food donations for the Kennett Community Food Cupboard, Monday, as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
The donors of the Kennett Consolidated School District edged out those of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School district in a friendly competition to see who could collect the most food for the Kennett Community Food Cupboard as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
Kennett students and their families managed to donate a mere 134 more food items to the food drive — a tiny margin in comparison to the total amount donated, some 5,600 food items — allowing it to claim victory in the friendly, neighborly competition.
While that means that Unionville Superintendent Dr. John Sanville will have to buy breakfast for his Kennett counterpart, Dr. Barry Tomasetti at Hank’s in Chadds Ford, the real winners will be local families from the greater Kennett area who now will not go hungry in the coming weeks.
At last week’s Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education meeting, Sanville somewhat jokingly pled for donations — worried that his Kennett counterpart, a former Division I football player at Iowa, might bankrupt him if he lost due to his hearty appetite.
“He’s a big man,” Sanville said. “I don’t know if I can afford breakfast if I lose,” he added, clearly joking.
And while Sanville’s wallet may take a minor hit, many local needy families will not go hungry in the coming weeks, thanks to the effort and generosity of the members of the two school districts, as well as many other members of the local community.
The co-chairs of the food drive, Dori Roper and Ginny Levy, said that for the fifth consecutive year donations continued to be strong, and they said “the generosity of our community has been remarkable.”
More than 400 cases of non-perishable food were donated by students and families from from both school districts, as well as local individuals, senior communities and local businesses.
Although food was taken in at various locations around the Kennett and Unionville areas — including all schools in both school districts — Monday, volunteers had to gather and sort the food before final transport to the Kennett Community Services (KCS)Building in Kennett Square.
Volunteers sorted through the food items at Unionville High School before the donations were trucked to KCS in trucks donated by Phillips Mushrooms. More volunteers then unpacked the trucks and carried the food items into the KCS building.
The Kennett Food Cupboard assists more than 1,200 individuals each month, averaging more than 17,500 pounds of food collected each month. Additional donations may be made to KACS by mail at 136 West Cedar Street, Kennett Square, PA 19348.
