Andrea Brooks

abrooks@gulfcoastnewspapers.com

Helping those in need. Giving out of the goodness of your heart and not expecting anything in return.

Those are the things Central Baldwin Middle School teacher Dawn Hopper hopes to instill in her seventh and eighth grade Family and Consumer Science students this Thanksgiving season as they prepare food baskets for families in need around the Central Baldwin area.

Making it fun with a football-related theme pitting the 7th and 8th grade homerooms against each other, Hopper said they have collected 600 canned goods so far with the 7th graders leading 21-14.

“This is an annual event for us and last year we were able to help 37 families. It’s a good lesson in giving for the kids as they have to put the baskets together making sure they are balanced and equaled out. There is a lot of hard work that goes into this and we are trying to instill some character and values for helping those in need in the community,” Hopper said.

This year is especially important, Hopper said, because of the economy and various health problems people are experiencing. The baskets will be delivered on Tuesday afternoon by Hopper and other CBMS teachers who are helping.

“Coach Anderson has been so great about encouraging the students to bring in their cans and show good citizenship and it is so important for the kids to look outside themselves and do something for others. To have a servant’s heart and be thankful for what you have is the important thing,” Hopper said.

In addition to the Thanksgiving baskets, Hopper said they recently had a blood drive where 49 units of blood were collected and they also sent 34 goody baskets to the troops in Afghanistan for Veteran’s Day.