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Community Corner

Primrose Kids Turn Chores into Change for Eagan Food Shelf

Pre-K children raise more than $700 for Eagan Resource Center through school's first 'Can-A-Thon'.

A group of Pre-Kindergarteners from the newly-opened Primrose School of Eagan were put to work in November and their efforts resulted in more than $700 in ‘wages’. Children from the educational child care facility were tasked with earning money through completing chores at home in an effort to raise money for donations to the .

Their efforts helped supply the local food shelf with much-needed pantry supplies to help meet a nearly doubling of demand from hungry families during the holidays. The Eagan Resource Center during the holidays to help meet that demand.

Part of the focus here at is to help our children become active helpers in a world needing our attention,” says Diane Storkamp, owner of The Primrose School of Eagan. “The month of November, through our Helping Hands Caring & Giving Project, we completed our first and very successful Can-A-Thon Event.”

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In a nutshell, says Storkamp, the ‘Can-A-Thon’ event includes collecting change that the kids earned mainly through doing chores at home. For the school’s Preschool 2 classroom, they also made and sold Rice Krispie bars last week. 

On Monday, the Pre-K kids took 10 jars of change to nearby Think Bank during a field trip to cash in the coins.

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“The kids had a great time turning in the change and getting a tour of the bank,” says Storkamp.

On Tuesday morning, the kids again took a field trip; this time to to shop for groceries and non-perishable items. Kowalski’s matched the first $200 earned and Think Bank also provided $100 to utilize for the program.

“Our ‘Can-A-Thon’ event raised $420.01,” said Storkamp before Tuesday’s outing. “Adding the Kowalski’s and Think Bank contributions, we will be purchasing groceries and non-perishable items worth $720.01.”

Fanning out in small groups each armed with a grocery cart, the kids took to Kowalski’s aisle spending their hard-earned money by choosing appropriate food items to donate.

“This is great,” said Dan Leifener, Kowalski’s store manager as he surveyed the aisles full of children enthusiastically pulling food items from the shelves. “It’s good for them. It’s a good learning experience and we love to help out.”

After the carts were filled and the items checked out through the scanners, the boxes of food were loaded into school buses for a Wednesday delivery to the Eagan Resource Center.

“We feel the urgency of the season and are experiencing an enormous increase in need,” said Eagan Resource Center Executive Director Lisa Horn in an earlier announcement. “There is no option but to do more.”

For the Pre-K kids at the Primrose School of Eagan, the lessons and rewards of “doing more” around the house will help some of the nearly 900 families the food shelf assists each month. According to Eagan Resource Center figures, 49 percent of the people served are children.

For more information on how you can volunteer or assist the Eagan Resource Center visit www.eaganrc.org/how-to-give.html

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