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NewsDepth A+: Jack Gives Back

We are always impressed by the great work all of NewsDepth viewers do to make the world a better place. It’s not an exaggeration when I say every time we get to meet one of you, we’re inspired. This week we got to meet Jack, a fourth grader at Mason Elementary School, in Mason. Jack is this week’s A+ Award winner.

Jack is the perfect example of a young man who goes above and beyond the call of duty. Every year his school has a “personal learning day.” During the personal learning day, the students are expected to work on individual projects or to volunteer in their community. Jack decided he was going to try to help members of his community who are food insecure. Food insecurity is when you don’t have access to sufficient food, or food of an adequate quality, to meet one's basic needs. Jack planned his own food drive to benefit the Comet Cupboard, which is a food bank in Mason that helps food insecure children.

Planning a food drive is hard work. Jack had to come up with a plan to not only collect food, but also to let community members know what he was up to and he needed to find a place to do it! Jack reached out to the management team at the Mason Kroger. He was able to speak with the store manager and she was so impressed with his plan, that she gave him permission to set up a table outside of the store to collect food donations. That’s when his seven year old sister Norah pitched in with some important contributions. Norah helped to design posters for the table to tell shoppers what they were there for.

By the end of the day, Jack had collected nearly 1,000 donated items and an additional $600.00 in cash! He did all of this on a 39 degree day! That’s dedication!

Jack was very proud to tell us that through this project he was able to see the good in people. He was so motivated by the experience that he’s planning a multi-state toy drive to benefit children’s hospitals in Cincinnati, Florida, and Texas with a few of his friends.

This week’s A+ Award goes to Jack, from Mason Elementary for giving back to his community! Keep up the great work, Jack. We’re excited to hear how the toy drive goes.

Submit your ideas for our NewsDepth A+ segment to newsdepth@ideastream.org for consideration.