TOPSHAM

Woodside Elementary School students have partnered with Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program for eight years.

However, instead of canned goods — the usual fare — this time they decided to collect money for the Brunswick food pantry and soup kitchen.

Kids representing each grade at Woodside hunted down the coins — most of which came either from couches, car seats, sidewalks, and parents’ or grandparents’ collections, they said.

“We’ve done a couple of penny drives before, but we mostly do monthly collections of food,” said fourth-grade teacher Elin Goodwin. “We heard that donations (at MCHPP) were getting low, so we decided to change things up a bit.

“We made a big deal about it at a whole-school morning assembly, then we just turned the kids loose to do the collecting.”

Mary Belanger’s kindergarten tallied its coins in a separate container in their classroom; upper grades dumped their collections into four plastic bins.

Principal Rick Dedek said the four bins collectively weigh in at 154 pounds.

“I did a little researching and a whole lotta estimating,” Goodwin said.

The total was $335.50. That’s for a single month’s collection.

Ultimately, the half-year total will be tallied and announced during a special ceremony in June.

Fifth-grade teacher Lisa Walling was to haul the change to an Atlantic Regional Credit Union branch Monday evening, which agreed to use its counting machines to tally the donations.

Of the final count, Dedek said: “It’s nice when education exceeds expectations.” jtleonard@timesrecord.com