Quaker Valley donates food items to community

Quaker Valley SD is putting extra lunch items to good use. Instead of throwing away items that are uneaten, students are invited to place unopened packages of food and beverages in cooler bags in the cafeteria. Rachel Pelloni, a parent volunteer and founder of the program, collects the food – about a milk-crate-sized amount each day – from Osborne Elementary School and another box of the same size from Edgeworth Elementary once a week. Items include everything from cheese sticks and yogurt to packaged fruit slices and carrot sticks that come with school lunches, or granola bars and chips in lunches from home. She takes the food to the Sewickley Community Center where food pantry clients and child care program participants can receive it. Administrators say the program has raised school pride, as students embrace the opportunity to serve the community.