By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
Two young Perkins Elementary students became the proud owners of shiny new bicycles courtesy of Overton Power District (OPD) last month. Ariana Rubio and Ty Jensen were the lucky students whose names were pulled from a jar as the winners.
Students earned entries in the contest by bringing in canned or other non-perishable foods to the school as part of the OPD annual food drive.
“Students who brought in donations received one ticket in the drawing for every can that they donated,” said Perkins Office Manager Rebeca Rubio. “The girls put their tickets in one bucket for the girl’s bike and the boys put their tickets in the other bucket for the boy’s bike.”
At the end of the food drive, one winner was chosen from each bucket, making two students very happy.
The bikes were part of an incentive program sponsored each year by OPD to encourage students to donate any extra food their families may have in an effort to help feed the community over the holidays through the Cappalappa Family Resource Center (CFRC) food bank. Every year the district donates about $150 dollars to all 4 local schools, and additionally to schools in Mesquite.
Most schools choose to use this money to purchase bikes for prizes, although they can use the money at their discretion. For example, this year Bowler Elementary elected to use the money to provide an ice cream party for every student in the grade that provided the most food items.
The food drive is one of the largest in the valley. This year alone local schools were responsible for donating over 4,000 canned and non-perishable items, all of which stayed local and went to CFRC, according to OPD employee Randall Ozaki who coordinates the program.
The district has been doing this program for many years now and is pleased with its success.
“Throughout the years, the community has always supported us in everything we have done,” said OPD spokesperson Keith Buchhalter. “It has really been a pleasure to coordinate and partner with local schools while being able to give back to the community at the same time. It is very rewarding for us to be a part of.”
Students and staff at Perkins elementary felt that it was a rewarding experience for them, as well. Third grader Braden Boss, 8, was happy to bring in food. “I brought food because I wanted to help others,” he said. “Sharing makes me feel good inside.”
“I really enjoyed bringing in food to donate because we have a lot of food and I wanted to share with others,” said 4th grader Ty Jensen, 10, before he knew that he would be the one drawn to win the boys bike. “It helps them so they don’t starve. I don’t really care about winning the bike, it just makes me feel good inside.”
After he won, Ty said that he was very excited and would be using the bike to ride back and forth to scouts.
Girl’s bike winner Ariana Rubio was also very excited. She said that she personally had brought in 39 cans of food. “I’m so excited that I won,” she said. “I can’t wait to ride around the streets by my house.”
Principal Holly Lee was pleased with the lessons that she felt students were learning by participating in service projects that benefit others. “I am really proud of all our students and how they wholeheartedly participated in this program,” she said. “It is great to see them learn that there are others less fortunate than themselves and then for them to want to help them. I love to see them learning the message about the importance of paying it forward.”
