Packaging with care

Lori Hammelman
Posted 12/1/17

Local students helping give local needy families some holiday support.

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Packaging with care

Posted

ROCHELLE — Approximately 200 sixth grade students at Rochelle Middle School assembled care packages early Friday for those in need in the Rochelle area.

Each of the nearly 90 bags contained personal care items such as toothbrushes, combs, deodorant and shampoo. Along with the items, the students also made greeting cards and decorations for the bags.
RMS teacher Beth Hahn came up with the idea based off of this year’s motto, Pass It On. So far this year the students held a canned food drive and have collected pennies for the hurricane victims.

“Doing this makes me proud,” “This makes me cheerful,” and “I like that I’m making a difference and helping people,” were just some of comments made by the sixth graders as they were gathering the supplies and making the greeting cards.
The care packages will be given to HOPE of Ogle County, Rochelle Rescue Mission, and The Kitchen Table along with the Rochelle Police and Fire Depts.
“We did something like this about 10 years ago, and with our motto we wanted to give the kids the opportunity to help people in need,” Hahn said. “The response was overwhelming, and it is so neat to see these kids pull together to help others and put a smile on someone’s face.”
Hahn said the students also donated about $150, used to purchase additional personal care items.
“We had so many things donated, and to see all of the supplies they brought in was awesome. This is a great bunch of kids,” Hahn added.