Students from Morley Elementary in West Hartford are giving back through the school’s 30th annual Red Wagon Trek.
“I have three. One will be walking here today. Two are in fifth grade, so they’ve already done this,” Courtney Otterbein, a parent from West Hartford, said.
Every year, parents and students from kindergarten to second grade donate nonperishable food items to the West Hartford Food Pantry.
The goal is to support those in need while teaching students a valuable lesson that will last them a lifetime.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
“They’re 5 and 6. We love to start on a good foot that they are a part of a bigger community, to help each other even when it’s hard," said Maribeth Hixson, a teacher at Morley who is also one of the coordinators of the Red Wagon Trek.
Hundreds of students and dozens of parents, teachers, and chaperones fill red wagons with the nonperishable items they plan to donate and walk 1.2 miles from Morley to West Hartford Town Hall to drop off the donations.
“We’re somewhere between 50 and 60 wagons,” said Hixson. “This entails a lot of help from our community here at Morley School. We work hard to collect food for West Hartford Food Pantry.”
