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Phyllis Haynes: We collected over 26,000 boxes of cereal. The cool thing about it is that
of those 26,000 boxes over 18,000 came from the elementary schools that were enrolled
to do this. We had elementary schools, secondary schools, you know middle schools, and then
high schools participate. How many boxes did you bring? One [laughs]
Cheerios! Ray White: We had 45 schools sign up this
year. With economic conditions the way they are you know every kind of fundraising and
giving is down so it's amazing that those 45 schools produced more than 26,000 boxes
of cereal. Teacher from Don Roberts Elementary: This
is our first year we are a brand new school. Brand new school, brand new East program and
we love doing service type projects. Thats what East is all about, doing service type
projects. So this was one of the projects we worked on this year.
Ray White: I met one young man here who collected 219 boxes by himself! I talked to his grandmother
and mother and they said 'Oh we wore out the USA Drug over in North Little Rock so they
don't have any cereal left.'So it's pretty amazing. And those stories of kids who become
compassionate by knowing and going through an experience like this where they get a lot
of attention and interest in helping other people and some information on how many people
are hungry. You know we are number one in childhood hunger in the country. Arkansas
is the number one state for childhood hunger. So this will help. And summer months are bad
because kids aren't in school and they don't get that school lunch, that pre-reduced priced
lunch, so it's important that we get cereal and other important food to bridge that gap.
Kid: I brought three, Cheerios and Apple Jacks. 2nd kid: I brought one Cheerios and I think
Cocoa Puffs. Ray White: This is a finger in the *** because
the need is so great. So we really need a lot people to join this movement to help end
hunger in the state of Arkansas. And the Arkansas Food Bank, which receives this food and then
provides it to 300 agencies that are in our 33 county service area, and also to other
food banks in the state, there are five other Feeding America Food Banks in the state. That
really helps everybody have enough food to get through these times.
Kid: In our media center we stacked the cereal on the glass wall inside and we taped it all
up and we had 742 boxes of cereal. Teacher: We built a wall of cereal. We chose
our design because we looked at all of our cereal to see what we had the most of and
we had the most Cheerios. Ray White: I know, I don't really know the
exact number, but I think it is around 245,000, which is a big number when you consider the
population of the state. So there are more kids out there that you wouldn't dream, I
mean they are not necessarily letting you know that they are hungry. I was out at a
Boys and Girls Club the other day where we had a feeding program after school, and the
head of the program told me that he has kids coming in and filling their pockets with food.
And they take it home to their families because they know their families need that food as
well. And that is a very unselfish act. I mean this is some kid who could eat all that
food by himself, but he takes part of his food home to his family. And that is right
here in Little Rock.