The fifth-grade Student Council at Gladstone Elementary School has been hard at work this past couple of weeks, making daily trips to visit classrooms in order to collect donations for their Sharing is Caring drive. The council gave a suggested list to the school community, broken down by grade level as to the types of donations they were looking for, but emphasized that any types of similar donations would be welcomed. The suggested list was as follows: kindergarten: gloves, first grade: hats, second grade: socks, third grade: toothbrushes and toothpaste, fourth grade: hair accessories and fifth grade: small games.

They really took control of this fundraiser, said Principal Susan Buonanno. They even thought about the small games because we talked a lot about people who might not be in living in a home right now and they felt that they wanted those people to also have something fun.

The students all agreed that they felt a sense of pride and goodness in knowing that they were helping others, especially at this time of year.

The outpouring of support for the donation drive ended up exceeding the students expectations and they were able to fill four laundry baskets with supplies which are being given to the Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center in Warwick.

At the same time, the donation drive was in full swing, the entire school community was also collecting canned goods and other non-perishable foods for the Alan Shawn Feinstein food drive, which will help to stock the Rhode Island Food Bank for the upcoming winter months. The school collected enough food to fill several shopping carts, which have been housed in the foyer of the school for all to see.

Everyone pitched in for these drives, said Buonanno. We could not have done it without the support of the entire community, including the families, students, faculty and staff.