HOUSTON — A good cause became a source of good fun Wednesday at Neill Elementary School in Fort Bend ISD.
Administrators said the children collected nearly 1,000 cereal boxes for donation to a local food pantry, the East Fort Bend Human Needs Ministry.
However, before the boxes were sent off, the school decided to step up a domino-style chain reaction display. They triggered the first box about 9 a.m.
"This was actually brought to us by a parent in the community," school counselor Jessica Rodriguez said. "She saw it on social media and we just ran with it. Our students always show up, and they always just blow us out of the water with what we expect."
According to the district, staff and families collected the cereal as part of a week-long project. Development Director Stacey Williams with East Fort Bend Human Needs Ministry said the cereal boxes will be given out during the organization's back-to-school event on July 31.
"Fort Bend County, we're an affluent community but we definitely have areas that could use a 'hand up,' I like to say," Williams said.
All the grade levels were able to participate in lining up the boxes, Rodriguez said.
The students in each grade level raced to collect the most boxes. According to Rodriguez, first grade was victorious with nearly 200 boxes.
The students and staff had tons of fun watching the boxes stack higher and higher in the library. Rodriguez said their were a couple avalanches.
"They have been so, so excited," Rodriguez said. "We love a good healthy challenge here at school. Competing within grade levels, see who can bring in the most boxes. But they are also really understand that [the cereal] is going to people in need. And not just people in need, people in need in our community."
Williams said East Fort Bend Human Needs Ministry is the officials food pantry servicing Fort Bend County. She added the organization does a lot to help families, especially children. The organization is ecstatic to be apart of the project.
Rodriguez added the biggest challenge has been the wind knocking boxes over! But the kids were persistent and clever. They even created designs in some sections of the chain.
The domino effect was a success! And at the end, the Neill Elementary School community loaded the cereal boxes into a truck at the back of the school to be delivered to the food pantry.