The candy drive is something that you donate candy to the soup kitchen. The soup kitchen gives it to the people who come to eat there. Now they can have food and delicious candy when they eat there. All the extra candy that we waste in our house now goes to people that don’t have candy. All the candy lasts for 2 weeks.

Edgewood had a candy drive right after Halloween. Our school so far is the only school that has given a donation of candy to the soup kitchen. We distributed a bucket full of candy. There was so much candy it looked like no candy got removed. The people love the candy. When we went to give candy to them, they started clapping. As soon as we did it, there was one guy who took all the Hershey bars. A bunch of people started getting up to get the candy. They loved it so much! Edgewood School donates a lot of stuff to the soup kitchen.

The candy drive is held at Hope Community Service where there is a soup kitchen. It is in New Rochelle. Some people eat at the soup kitchen because they are lonely, and some eat there because they have friends there or need help getting food. In the same building, there is also a food pantry. They store the candy in the kitchen. They give it out at dinner to all the people who want it. Every year they are going to have a Candy Drive, Thanksgiving Drive and a Christmas drive. At the Thanksgiving dinner they’re getting about 400 people. The most common quantity of people they have is 100-120, 4 nights a week. It’s bigger if it is a Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner.

The soup kitchen also has other services. The soup kitchen has workers to help find people homes. They also have a pantry, and it is for people who actually need the food. It helps people a lot. The soup kitchen is open from 9 am till 8 pm. Their motto is: “We can’t do what we do without our volunteers.” Most of the food they get is from synagogues and churches. The rest is cooked at the soup kitchen.

The soup kitchen has many volunteers. We talked with some of them. A volunteer named Maria has been volunteering every day. The person who gave us all the information that we are giving to you is named Terrie.

So please donate to the soup kitchen and volunteer. You need to be 13 to volunteer at the soup kitchen, so when you are in middle school, please volunteer. Thank you!