Caney Valley Holiday Food Basket Drive Expands To Meet Community Needs

A teacher began giving out Caney Valley Holiday Food Baskets more than 10 years ago, and the need for them keeps growing.

At Caney Valley High School in Mrs. Wilson's English class, students will learn about Shakespeare, but they will also learn about the importance of helping others.

"Generosity, the beautiful thing about it, is it helps you more, helps grow your heart and your compassion, and when other students see that, it helps us all grow our hearts," she said.

That lesson was one Mrs. Wilson learned when she was the one in need.

"We found ourselves in a bad situation," she said. "The janitor at the time, Paulette Ward, saw the situation we were in. She came to my house with a box of food; she came to my house every month with a box of food. And when she died in 2012, I knew that we had to do something to really honor her legacy."

Her legacy has become the holiday food basket drive, which has grown every year. More than 70 people in their community have signed up to receive a holiday food basket.

"We have more people who are needing help than we do graduating, which is astounding," Mrs. Wilson said.

But she and her students are rising to the occasion. Landon Aldridge raised $900 to go toward buying canned goods.

"We have been in a hard time ourselves, and I always want to be there for the people who are in need and are going through that hard time themselves," he said.

Mrs. Wilson's students are not only listening to her lesson of giving back but putting it into practice.

"It is so important to help other people, which I think they already know, but I think this illustrates it better. I hope they recognize if they find themselves in a situation where they need help, there will be people there to help you. You should never give up your faith in humanity," she said.

If you are interested in helping the drive, you can donate items until Nov. 8.