In a procession of generosity, students from each classroom at Westwood Elementary School in Greenwood hauled baskets full of food into the main office.
The containers were loaded with canned beans, pre-made soups, boxes of pasta and jars of peanut butter. Kids had spent the past three weeks emptying their pantries, and imploring their parents to help them pick up non-perishable food items at the store.
When all of the food had been weighed and tabulated, the Westwood students had brought in more than 1,700 pounds to help the needy.
“Sometimes, it’s a good thing to teach kids that there’s a bigger world out there other than themselves,” said David Ennis, principal at Westwood. “The kids get their families involved, they get excited and they bring things in.”
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Westwood students will again be collecting food for the less fortunate, joining in a tradition among county schools that dates back to the 1920s. As community organizers start planning the annual Good Cheer Fund giveaway to provide food for the holidays to 800 families throughout Johnson County, they rely on the schools to help make the food baskets possible.
While the baskets are filled with fresh food, such as ham, eggs, milk and bread, a majority of items included will be non-perishable soups, fruit, vegetables and meal mixes that students themselves bring in.
Schools are typically responsible for more than 35,000 canned food goods each year for the fund, chairman Jacob Stappenfield said. Without their help, the Good Cheer Fund wouldn’t be possible.
“It’s a great thing to see kids bringing in canned goods that are going right back into the community, sometimes helping out a kid in their own classroom,” Sappenfield said. “Kids can see an immediate impact. There aren’t too many things where kids are immediately helping their classmates.”
The Good Cheer Fund was founded in 1921 by Austin Flinn, a local funeral home owner, and the Franklin Evening Star. The idea was to tap the giving power of the community to provide a Christmas dinner, plus other food items, for the less fortunate.
The effort helped feed 110 families that first year.
Ninety-five years later, the fund has grown to include 800 deliveries around the county. That same amount will go out this year, Sappenfield said.
People can apply for the baskets through applications printed in the Daily Journal and distributed to the community. Recipients can be referred by schools, social organizations and other social service groups.
Families are chosen based on the degree of need, with those referred from the local schools given priority, Sappenfield said.
“They are the closest to that segment of the population that we’re trying to serve, where there’s children involved,” he said. “The counselors work so closely with those families, so it’s important for us to listen to them and make them a priority.”
Sometimes, it’s the schools who often have the greatest need who are stepping up to donate to the cause.
Northwood Elementary School has been one of the most active schools in recent years, increasing the number of baskets they generate for the fund from about five to 30, Sappenfield said.
The school stresses the importance of giving to its students on morning announcements and on social media. Instead of offering a prize, teachers and staff try to impart on the kids that generosity can be its own reward, principal Katie Smith said.
“We don’t do any kind of incentives, because it is from the good of your heart,” she said. “We make sure the kids know why we’re doing it, that it’s the right thing to do and talk about being generous if you’re able to be.”
At Isom Elementary School in Greenwood, administrators keep track of students whose families are most in need of assistance. Last school year, 71 percent of the students received free or reduced-price lunches, eligible to those whose families meet poverty guidelines set forth by the federal government.
Staff members don’t want to push too hard to get students to donate; many families can’t part with that food, said Yolanda Santos, the school’s student services advisor.
“We don’t want to rally too much, because we have a high free and reduced lunch population. So I’m always careful,” she said. “But we always get a good response from our community. They’re the ones who receive this support and help, and they want to pay it forward.”
Announcements are made at school, and Isom students are enticed with a popcorn party for the class who generates the most food.
“We always make sure they know to ask their parents. I could see some students taking something out of the pantry that mom is counting on to use to cook their meal,” Santos said.
The response has been heartwarming. The school averages about 1,200 canned goods each year. This year, Isom asked for 40 baskets to fill for the fund.
Part of the appeal is that the students understand they’re likely helping their own classmates have a slightly brighter Christmas, Santos said.
“It’s a big deal for them. We make sure they know where the food is going to, and give them some of the history of the Good Cheer Fund. As a school, we all want to help,” Santos said.
Donations, usually more than $25,000, are made by local families that help organizers buy fresh food. Giving to the fund has been a tradition, and often, families make contributions in memory or honor of someone who’s made a difference in their lives, Sappenfield said.
But the engine that makes the Good Cheer Fund baskets go are the local schools. Each basket contains an average of 20 canned food and other non-perishable items.
That accounts for more than half of each basket, and all of it comes from the schools, Sappenfield said. With their generosity, organizers do not have to buy any additional canned goods for the baskets.
If the schools didn’t participate, that would take away from the fresh food, such as eggs, milk and meat, that the fund committee purchases for each basket.
“Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do this for nearly as many people,” Sappenfield said.
This year, 21 schools will be helping to collect canned food items through mid-December.
Grade levels and individual classrooms compete to see who can donate the most canned soup, boxed pasta and other nonperishable food. Sporting events and movie theaters accept nonperishable food instead of money for admission to special events.
At Westwood Elementary, the student council helps spearhead the collection efforts. They hang posters throughout the school, and help organize a good-spirited competition between classrooms to see who can bring in the most food, Ennis said.
Announcements will get the kids fired up, giving updates day-to-day to stoke their enthusiasm. The 50 baskets provided to collect the food are kept in the hallways to offer a daily visual reminder about their mission.
“I’m big on putting opportunities in front of the kids to see that the world is bigger than themselves,” Ennis said. “It’s too easy, in the world we live in, to think that the world revolves around you. It doesn’t.”
Creekside Elementary School will contribute 25 baskets filled with food this year. To get the students ready, staff members focus a campaign on their televised morning announcements.
Throughout December, students will hear the message over and over again: bring in your canned goods to help.
“I think we’ve been doing it for so long that students get excited about bringing in cans. They know why they’re doing it, and they want to help,” said Stephanie Deeter, school counselor at Creekside.
Deeter, who had previously been a counselor at Needham Elementary and Custer Baker Intermediate schools, has seen how important the students are to the Good Cheer Fund process.
Each school uses different techniques and motivations to get students involved. But the end result is always for the good of the community.
“All of the schools do what works for them to get the kids excited, so there’s always a great turnout. The generosity is amazing,” Deeter said. “Good Cheer has been going on so long that families know about it, they expect it and they love to help out with it.”
With all of the food that’s been donated, it falls to an army of volunteers to get it to the people who need it most.
Volunteers divide the donated food into piles, fill each delivery basket, then hand-deliver each one to the homes chosen for the Good Cheer Fund.
The main thrust of deliveries will be made in Franklin, Bargersville and Trafalgar. Organizers select 360 families in this area to receive baskets, and people gather early on the morning of Dec. 24 to deliver to those homes.
The Greenwood Fraternal Order of Police takes care of delivery in the northern part of the county. Members and other volunteers help organize the distribution of 240 baskets in Greenwood and the Center Grove area.
Around Edinburgh and Nineveh, distribution falls to the Edinburgh Fire Department. Firefighters will pass out 200 baskets to residents on the morning of Christmas Eve.
“We’re lucky to have their help. They see as big a need as we do,” Sappenfield said.
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2016
Schools taking part in Good Cheer Fund can collection
Center Grove Community School Corp.
- Center Grove Elementary School
- Center Grove Middle School Central
- Pleasant Grove Elementary School
Clark-Pleasant Community School Corp.
- Break-O-Day Elementary School
- Clark Elementary School
- Grassy Creek Elementary School
- Clark-Pleasant Middle School
- Whiteland Elementary School
Franklin Community Schools
- Custer Baker Intermediate School
- Franklin Community Middle School
- Creekside Elementary School
- Needham Elementary School
- Northwood Elementary School
- Union Elementary School
- Webb Elementary School
Greenwood Community School Corp.
- Northeast Elementary School
- Westwood Elementary School
- Isom Elementary School
- Southwest Elementary School
Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson School Corp.
- Indian Creek Elementary School
- Indian Creek Middle School
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What: Good Cheer Fund, an annual effort to pass out holiday food baskets to the needy throughout Johnson County. Baskets include a mix of canned foods and fresh items, such as a ham or chicken, eggs, milk and cheese.
How many: 800 baskets
Distribution: 360 baskets will go to the Franklin, Trafalgar and Bargersville areas; 240 will go to Greenwood and the northern part of the county; and 200 will go to the Edinburgh area.
How to apply: Applications, both in Spanish and English, can be found in the Dec. 3 Daily Journal. To be considered for a basket, applications must be received by Dec. 9. For more information, call 736-1722.
How to give: Monetary donations will be accepted until the end of December. Donations can be mailed to the Daily Journal, P.O. Box 699, Franklin, IN 46131, or dropped off at the Daily Journal at 30 S. Water St., Second floor, Suite A, in Franklin.
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