Published: October 23, 2008 12:49 am      

Districts compete to help hungry

It's Raceland vs. Russell in Food Feud

Raceland — Students in the Raceland-Worthington and Russell school districts are gearing up for the 2008 Raceland vs. Russell Food Feud.

The community service event, sponsored by River Cities Harvest, will be during the week of the Raceland vs. Russell football game, Monday through game day, Oct. 31. Students in both districts will be collecting nonperishable food, with the district collecting the most awarded a trophy at the game.

But the real winner will be Helping Hands in Greenup. All the donated food will stock the agency’s food pantry for the holiday season.

RCH will accept additional food from the community at the gate on game night. Food given at the game through the end of the first quarter will go toward the districts’ food totals (donor’s choice). The trophy presentation will take place at halftime.

Last year’s inaugural feud netted more than 5,000 pounds of food, and the schools are hoping to surpass that this year, especially with help from the community on game night.

Chick-fil-A will give a free sandwich coupon to everyone who donates at the game. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. at the Russell field.

Ashland and Boyd County schools had a Food Feud earlier this month, also sponsored by RCH. That weeklong event brought in nearly 55,000 pounds of food, most of which stayed at the districts’ family resource centers, to be distributed to those most in need.

The winners in that competition were: district, Boyd County; high school, Boyd County; middle school: Boyd County; elementary, Oakview.

RCH, established in 1991, is a “food recovery” organization that uses volunteers to collect food from local grocery stores and restaurants and deliver it to agencies that feed people, including Community Kitchen, Safe Harbor, Shelter of Hope, Salvation Army, local senior centers and the Cannonsburg Trinity United Methodist Church food pantry.

For more information, call (606) 324-FOOD.