On Friday, February 10th, 2012, the King Arthur Flour Company's Life Skills Bread Baking Program presented an assembly for the 7th graders of Patton Middle School. Students learned about bread baking with a little science and math thrown in. Our hope was that each child would go home with their newfound skills and "goodie bag" filled with flour, a recipe book, yeast, a scraper and bag, and make two loaves of bread with their families. We also had one small request, that each student think about returning one of the two loaves back to the Family and Consumer Program to donate to the local food bank. Betsy Ballard and Kim Hisler want to extend their heartfelt appreciation to all of the 7th grade students and their families for their generous donations of bread to the FCS program and ultimately to the Chester County Food Bank! With 1 in 10 residents in Chester County going to bed without a meal each day because they cannot afford food, over 2000 volunteers help the Food Bank and local food cupboards by helping to feed our hungry neighbors and now our students can count themselves among their legions of volunteers. Our amazing students returned nearly 200 loaves of freshly baked bread. The return was beyond our expectations and we are so happy that the volunteer spirit is alive and well. Many students commented how much they enjoyed the time baking the bread on the snowy Saturday afternoon and they were thrilled with their efforts. When asked what made him want to make the bread and return it to school on Monday, one young man reported that "It made me feel like a better person knowing that I was helping someone else". Thank you for your participation in this volunteer activity and for making a difference in the lives of others.
See more photos from the event here
