GFS will soon learn whether it won second consecutive Great Food Fight

A contingent from Germantown Friends School (GFS) will attend Philabundance’s Great Food Fight! awards on April 19 where it will learn whether the school won its second consecutive food-drive title.

The competition challenged local schools to come up with a project to generate food for Philabundance.

Of 22 participating schools, GFS placed in the top three with their food drive, part of which was the 1,000 Pounds of Pasta Challenge.

One of the top three participants will find out it won first place at the event, which will take place at the Philabundance Hunger Relief Center in South Philadelphia.

More than six tons of food

From Feb. 15 to Mar. 2, students collected an abundance of noodle varieties for the drive. The school reports collecting 12,714 pounds of food and raising $3,512 in donations which translates into an additional 7,024 pounds of food that Philabundance can purchase.

The school’s Community Action Committee worked to get the effort started. Kathy Paulmier, director of community involvement at GFS, said student and teacher leadership was what sparked community interest in the project.

“The Food Fight is a remarkable event,” says Paulmier. “It’s an effective attention-getter and educational opportunity. It energizes student interest and generates questions about hunger: Where does the food go? Why do they need it? What else can we do? What are the causes of hunger?”

The top three cash prizes, sponsored by Shire Pharmaceuticals, includes $10,000 for most food collected, $5,000 for most food collected per student and $1,000 for most food collected in the county.