John Regner, a volunteer at Inside-Out Ministries, stocks canned food on the shelves of the food pantry. Columbia Elementary School donated 1,707 food parcels to Inside-Out on Jan. 30. (RECORD PHOTO/GREGG PARKER)

MADISON – Columbia Elementary School’s population showed their compassion for the less fortunate by donating 1,707 cans, boxes and packages of food for pantry shelves at Inside-Out Ministries.

More than 150 items were collected on the first day, parent volunteer Karyn Murphree said. Each day, organizers ask students to bring different items.

On Jan. 26-30, they brought Inside-Out’s most needed supplies: cereal and oatmeal, followed by peanut butter and crackers, juice and canned fruits, toilet paper and paper towels and microwave popcorn and toothpaste.

“Several years ago, Columbia Elementary PTA decided our school would plan a school-wide effort to give back to the community each year,” Murphree said. “This year, Columbia is sponsoring a food drive.”

“Inside-Out Ministries provides short-term emergency assistance for basic living necessities for families in Madison,” Murphree said. “Inside-Out sometimes provides snacks for children in area schools, who may not be able to bring snacks.”

This year marks Columbia’s third annual drive to help Inside-Out. Parent volunteers are organizing and transporting the donations to Inside-Out.

Sixth-grader Tynan Gibson said, “Most people have more than they need. It’s nice for people who have more than they need to give to others who might not have enough.”

Kindergarten teacher Alyson Durrett and third-grade teacher Karen Jump used the food drive to teach their students about data collection and graph creation. Each class counted daily donations and created a graph using the data.

Jump’s third-graders helped a kindergarten class count their donated items for graphs that both classes worked on. One student, Holden Ruff, said, “Working with kindergarten was a blast because they are fun to count with.”

Third-grader Zachary L. said, “It was fun to count all of the food and to be like teachers to kindergarten.” Riana Wilford believes “it’s very important to help people who don’t have as much as us.”

Inside-Out Ministries’ address is 103 Gin Oaks Court, just southwest of downtown Madison. For more information about Inside-Out, call 256-325-5193 or visit inside-outministries.org or Twitter @Insideout_AL.