Students from the Lincoln School in Oak Park, Illinois collected Peanut Butter and Jelly.  Their efforts contributed to a project developed by their partners at Harrison Elementary School in Warsaw, Indiana.  The project benefits patrons of Combined Community Services in Warsaw.

The students from Harrison Elementary in Warsaw expanded their PB & J project for Combined Community Services to support Harrison’s Red Ribbon Week.  Red Ribbon Week celebrates the students’ commitment to be drug free and focus their energy on a charitable project.  The school-wide effort resulted in a truckload of food for needy families in Warsaw and Kosciusko County.

Mr. Glass drove from Warsaw, Indiana to Oak Park, Illinois.

After a brief search, he found Abraham Lincoln Elementary School.

Mr. Kuntz found him and took him on a tour of the school.

Mr. Glass saw all of the GVC signs and banners.

He was really happy when he saw all of the Peanut Butter and Jelly  the kids collected to help feed needy families back in Warsaw.

11/20/2008 5:00:00 PM   TIMES-UNION Newspaper

Lewis Jones, Combined Community Services, (back row, left) and Harrison Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Rick Glass stand with Glass’s class that helped collect peanut butter and jelly for CCS recently, along with help from Abraham Lincoln School in Oak Park. Ill. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union

Local, Illinois Schools Unite To Give PB&J To CCS

David Slone

Times-Union Staff Writer

Combined Community Services received about 200 jars of peanut butter and jelly this week, collected by students from Harrison Elementary School, Warsaw, and Abraham Lincoln School, Oak Park, Ill.

Harrison fourth-graders and Abraham Lincoln School students, along with Ein Ganim School, Petach Tikva, Israel, students, are Global Virtual Classroom partners. The GVC is sponsored by AT&T and the Give Something Back Foundation. GVC connects classrooms of students from around the world.

Teamed in groups of three, at least one partner must be a school in which English is not the primary language, according to Harrison teacher Rick Glass.

Along with Glass's students at Harrison, Team GVC 08-01 includes Marsha Goren's students at Ein Ganim School and Matt Kuntz's students in Oak Park.

Each GVC team is charged with creating a Web site that exemplifies giving back to their communities. Their project had to be presented in the form of a Web site that puts the entirety of their learning on display. Each page had to be a collaborative effort between students from each of the three schools.

The schools chose to create a School of Many Kindnesses for a theme.

Knowing Harrison would be collecting canned food goods for CCS during Red Ribbon Week and the annual Food-A-Thon, Glass challenged students to begin collecting peanut butter and jelly. Israeli students began designing the Web elements for the site. Kuntz's students decided to help collect peanut butter and jelly and send it to Warsaw. Banners and displays were made to promote their efforts, and all the work was posted on the Web site.

Peanut butter and jelly are important food items for families, according to CCS Director of Assistance Peggi Lisenbee-Wright. When Glass told Lisenbee-Wright of their project, she was excited. The donation came at a good time.

Recently, Glass and his wife drove to Oak Park and met Kuntz. They loaded up the donations and banners to be displayed at Harrison. Nearly 200 jars of peanut butter and jelly were collected by students at both of the schools. Today, Glass delivered the jars to CCS. Students from Abraham Lincoln also collected coins and a check for CCS, which was presented to Lewis Jones of CCS Wednesday afternoon.

GVC Food Drive Photos

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

Helping the Community in which we live: GVC08-01