Broken Arrow Elementary Sets Record With Nearly 4,000 Canned Food Donations

A Broken Arrow Elementary school with a decades long tradition of collecting food for those in need, broke a record Monday.

Leisure Park Elementary students brought nearly 4,000 canned food items to school, to help the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.

Call it organized canned food chaos, for a cause.

"They knocked it out of the park,” Leisure Park Elementary School Principal Janet Dotson said.

She said the food drive becomes a lesson that starts in the classroom, and ends with balancing cans to be loaded up and hauled away.

"Every year we read this book called The Giving Tree. And it really talks about students giving back, giving back to their community, and the goodness that comes from that,” Dotson said.

It's a tradition now 43 years strong.

Dotson said the students usually bring about 2,000 cans to school for the food drive. This year they are donating to the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. They have donated to several organizations over the years.

This year, the number of cans collected nearly doubled from a typical year.

"Students brought in 3,821 canned food items and nonperishable food items,” Dotson said. “We're really, really proud of that."

"This time of year is always our biggest time for serving our community in need, but its also when we need food more than ever,” Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma President and CEO Jeff Marlow said.

He said several students at Leisure Park Elementary are recipients of the backpack program, which provides meals and snacks for students to take home on weekends, holiday breaks and during the summer.

The school said some of those students were able to give back to the food bank through the drive, to help others.

Fifth grader and Student Council President Kylee Owens said a Bedlam rivalry between students, is getting more food to those in need.

"They kind of make it a competition OSU vs. OU. And so they're like, 'Oh I want OU to win,' or 'I want OSU to win' and so it just makes them get more," Owens said.

And while there are no textbooks with this lesson, the impact can be lifelong.

"They learn the power of giving, because it really makes them feel good,” Dotson said. “We heard a student on Friday say, 'This feels so good,' when he saw the canned items going all the way down the hall."

The school said the OU team won by a landslide. The prize for those students is a pizza party with the principal later this week, and ice cream after recess.

If you're in need this holiday season, The Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma has a tool on its website that can direct you to more than 200 pantries across our area. For more details, CLICK HERE.