When a yellow Owen J. Roberts (OJR) School District bus pulled up at the North Coventry Food Pantry on a recent Saturday, it was not filled with students. Rather, the bus was loaded with nonperishable food donations collected by OJR students as part of the district's annual Make a Difference Day Food Drive. Helping to unload and sort the donations at the pantry were members of the OJR High School wrestling team.

As part of the annual event, students gathered donations for the food pantry from Oct. 16 through Oct. 27. On the final day of the drive, the Make a Difference Day school bus traveled between each campus in the district to collect the gathered donations, including the district elementary schools and the middle school and high school.

"(The students) get so excited when we show up with that bus," said middle school teacher Kira Marks, who has been organizing the food drive since 2014. "Last year, we were just coming back after COVID; this year we had significantly more (donations) than last year."

Students were provided information about the food pantry, which provides food and household goods to families and individuals in need who reside in the OJR School District. "We talked about what needs to be donated, how many families are helped and how important it is," noted Marks.

Special incentives were offered to encourage students to donate items. "The middle school Leo Club runs a pie-in-the-face contest, where students can bring items to donate and they vote for who they would like to see 'pied,'" Marks explained. "The top three teachers with the most votes get pie in the face. It brings in a lot of donations and it's a lot of fun."

Additionally, the names of students who brought in donations were put in a drawing to win either a free pass for all home athletic games or a week of parking (for older students) in OJR High School assistant principal Eric Wentzel's administrator parking spot.

Nonperishable food items were also collected during the district's annual Roberts Education Association (REA) Trick or Treat Night on Oct. 26.

Different groups at the various schools helped with the effort, as well as staff members, including Rachel Hoffman, the OJR High school attendance secretary, and Jen Scott from the Middle School Leo Club.

Next year, Marks would like to see the effort opened up to the public. "I have been discussing within my building ways to get the public involved by having drop-off boxes at different stores or locations or at the middle school or high school," she stated. "We are trying to make (the food drive) bigger and better."

The North Coventry Food Pantry is located at 692 W. Schuylkill Road (Route 724), Unit 1, Pottstown. For more information, including volunteer opportunities or how to hold a food drive, visit http://www.coventryfoodpantry.com or http://www.facebook.com/coventryfoodpantry.