Murray fourth graders giving back

Jerry Young’s fourth grade class participated in Martin Luther King Jr.’s A Day of Service. The students read about the Day of Service and then came up with an action plan as to how they could serve. They had to brainstorm ideas, set realistic goals, form teams, do research and then develope a plan with concrete steps laying out how they would accomplish their goal.

Some groups chose to serve Iowa businesses, schools and charities, others kept it local and served right there in Murray.

Jaxon Darby and Ayden Lamb raised $1,000 to donate to the Murray Church of Chirst Food Pantry. To raise the money the students held a baked goods auction and their parents took donations through Facebook.

“Everyone derserves to eat. If you can help, you should,” said Darby.

The Murray Food Pantry is not government subsidized, they run soley on donations from members of the Church of Christ and periodic food drives. One household may visit the pantry once every 30 days and receive three bags of groceries/toiletries and one meat bag. Hormell donates meat to the pantry and cereal, peanut butter and laundry soap are items that the pantry can’t get enough of.

The $1,000 donated by Lamb and Darby is enough for the pantry to get by for four or five months. Roughly 30 families utalize the Murray Church of Christ Food Pantry every month.

Another group that kept their project local was Nolan Gannon and Keegan Chew. They raised money for two Murray seniors to each have a $200 scholarship to Southwestern Community College.

Another group, Macee Penick and Rileanna Eckles decided to serve Osceola and donated supplies to Cross Ministries.

A group of three wanted to serve children in Des Moines. Arlette Esteban Cabrera, Kaycie Chamberlain and Maddie Henrichs donated blankets and canned food to the Youth Emergency Services and Shelter (YESS).

Two groups served Blank Childrens Hospital Cancer Center in Des Moines. Leah Frederick and Bella Cosner raised $500 to purchase toys and Brock Heaberlin and Wyatt Patton raised $1,223 to purchase supplies for Blank Childrens Hospital Cancer Center.