Grant Elementary recently completed a food drive that brought the school community together to help local families in need.

For 10 days before the end of the year, students and staff donated more than 2,000 food items, which were given to the Murray Children’s Pantry.

The pantry, located at 170 E. 5770 South, provides nonperishable foods from canned fruits and vegetables to cereal and granola bars to their neighbors in the Murray community. It is open 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and the third Saturday of each month.

The food drive was organized by the school’s sixth-grade leaders, who took over announcing the drive, creating posters to promote it and counting the donations.

Besides teaching students empathy and generosity, it was a lesson in organizing a schoolwide event, said Grant Principal Jill Burnside.

“Our sixth-grade leaders learned how to organize a food drive from the idea to the involvement of our school to better our community,” she said.

To add excitement, there was a friendly competition amongst grade levels, with third grade taking top honors for the most donated items.