Update from the Community Assistance Network

In a year when the need is truly at a premium, the students of Auten Road Intermediate School’s Team 5G (Mrs. Diane Lyon’s and Mrs. Kerry MacDonald’s homerooms) and Team 5H (Mrs. Donna Biddulph’s and Mrs. Elise Newton’s homerooms) challenged each other to collect the most cans of food in the 7th Annual SOUP-er Bowl Collection.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition looked very different this year.  About 50% of the students participate in a hybrid model where they are in-person at school twice a week, while the other half learns completely virtually from home.  To accommodate this into the collection, cans were not only collected in class, but also through contact-free drop boxes placed outside the main entrance of the school.

The students came through in amazing form.  Team 5G and 5H families donated 491 food items to the Hillsborough Township Community Assistance Network (C.A.N.) food pantry!  The ARIS Soup-er Bowl victors were the Team 5G Chiefs, but by embracing this life lesson of giving back to their community, all the students were winners.  Way to go 5G & 5H students and families!

Also from the Community Assistance Network -  Feeding Boro, an initiative started by Hillsborough High School seniors Navleen Boparai and Shaan Desai, was formed to help alleviate local hunger by contributing pantry items to the Hillsborough Township Community Assistance Network. They were joined by junior Kabir Nagpal and sophomores Raj Boparai, Sahana Desai, and Mehr Singh. 

In response to the pandemic, rising job loss and an increase in families relying on food banks for daily meals, the teens decided to do something to help out.  They raised $650 among friends and family during the holiday season to help feed Hillsborough residents in need.

The group got organized and sorted through weekly grocery flyers, calculated which items would be best for the food bank and purchased as many nonperishable items as possible with the money they raised.  In total, 650 items were purchased; from cereal, to juice, and pasta.   The C.A.N. commends the student’s efforts to help alleviate hunger that many residents are experiencing.