On Saturday, September 10, food collected by students and families from Jefferson Elementary School in Maplewood was donated to Our Lady of Sorrows Food Pantry Ministry in South Orange.

More than 90 needy families benefitted from the generous contributions made by the Jefferson community.

Susan Grierson, Principal of Jefferson Elementary School, asked her students to bring in food donations for the community on their first day of school. The students of Jefferson both fulfilled this request and showed their community spirit, when on Tuesday, September 6, the school started to fill up with with food stuffs for those in need.

At the Jefferson PTA Board meeting on Thursday, September 8, it was decided that the food stuffs would be donated to Our Lady of Sorrows Food Pantry Ministry. Both Sonya Selig and Susan Lopez, Jefferson PTA Board members, drove all the food donations to Our Lady of Sorrows Food Pantry Ministry on Friday, September 9. The donations were received by Food Pantry organizer MaryBeth Zichelli.

The good feedback came in fast: Selig informed Grierson that MaryBeth Zichelli couldn’t say thanks enough and that OLS continues to be "in great need of donations" and "it couldn’t have come at a better time."