Two girls put the spirit of season into food drive

The two girls chose a Poland food pantry to receive the fruits of their labor.
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- At a time of year when many children are writing letters to Santa, two 11-year-olds wrote a letter to their school administrator instead.
Their wish? To organize a canned food drive for those less fortunate than themselves.
Amy-Anne Kibler, administrator of Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley, 2008 Lynn Ave., said she wasn't surprised when she received the letter from Chynna Thompson and Lauren McIntosh.
"It's kind of a natural byproduct of Montessori education to be a problem-solver," Kibler said.
The sixth-grade pupils came across the idea in a book called "The Kids Guide to Service Projects," Lauren said.
Though the book contained many suggestions, the food drive idea struck a chord with the girls.
"It seemed like the most manageable, the one that we could take care of ourselves," Lauren explained.
Once they had the idea, the pair needed to decide on a location for the drive, choose dates and times and pick a recipient. They chose their school for the location and picked two dates for the collection.
"We wanted to have it more than one day so if they forgot or if they didn't have the time to do it that day, they could bring it the next day," Chynna said.
They chose the Poland Pantry as the recipient because Lauren passes it frequently on her way to the Poland branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
A time for caring
The holiday season is the time to spread cheer and joy, Chynna said, so the two wanted to ensure a nice holiday for those less fortunate.
The Poland Pantry is a volunteer organization that provides canned goods, paper products and personal care products to people in need. Recipients include qualified residents of the 44514 ZIP code area and members of four participating churches -- Poland United Methodist, Poland Presbyterian, Holy Family, and Prince of Peace Lutheran. The Pantry, housed in the Poland United Methodist Church, helps an average of 45 families each month.
Armed with the what, who, why and how, Chynna and Lauren wrote a letter to Kibler asking permission to hold the drive at the school. Once granted permission, the pair found the idea easy to accomplish. They wrote an article for the school newsletter informing parents of the plan, gathered boxes to hold the goods and waited for collection day.
With no specific collection goal in mind, Chynna said she thought 50 items would be a good number. On the first day of the drive Monday, they had already collected more than the 50 she desired. The drive was to conclude today.
Background
The girls have attended Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley for eight years and have been friends since first grade. Both have participated in community service projects in the past, but this is the first time either has organized an event.
Chynna's parents are James Thompson of Hubbard and Karyn Joseph of Youngstown, and Lauren's parents are Jim and Shirley McIntosh of Poland.
The Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley, Inc., a nonprofit organization, was founded in 1976. The school has 75 pupils, ages 3 to 14.