Several years ago Sharon Hale at Redoubt Elementary School started a holiday food collection called the “Great Redoubt Grocery Grab!” The idea was to let the students be aware of the needs of those less fortunate during the holidays starting with Thanksgiving by encouraging them to bring in food items that could be donated to the Food Bank. Then to make it more fun for the kids on two weekends she had local celebrities come in to race down the halls and see who could collect the most groceries by the time they reached the other end of school. “It’s fun for the kids to collect food and they take it to the food bank and volunteer while they are there,” said 6th grade Redoubt teacher Krista Arthur. This year Borough Mayor Mike Navarre ran against KPBSD Superintendent Sean Dusak, with Navarre finishing second but challenging the kids that he would match dollar for pound they collected up to $1,000, “I lost but it’s a great program and the kids do a great job for our community and the Food Bank with an unparalleled amount of enthusiasm. I was raised in a grocery store and we did what we could, but today with the Food Bank it’s a tremendous benefit to those in need in our community,” said Navarre.
The following week Principal John Pothast dressed as Mrs. Pilgrim Pothast raced against the PE teacher Donny Joachim and lost. The following week when Mrs. Arthur’s students delivered the results of the Great Grocery Grab to the Food Bank, Linda Swarner weighed in 1,114 lbs. of food and the students helped sort local potatoes and fill holiday boxes. The following day as he promised Borough Mayor Mike Navarre showed up with his check for $1,000 for the Food Bank. According to Linda Swarner executive director for the Food Bank the results of this year’s Redoubt Grocery Grab works out to nearly 3,000 meals, “We are very appreciative of the students efforts and their awareness of what we do year round here along with the generosity of individuals like Mayor Mike Navarre it shows community team work to be sure that no one goes hungry and that takes a team effort,” said Swarner.
