Students at West Mercer Elementary held a food drive in March for the Mercer Island Youth and Family Services Food Pantry, collecting a record amount of food.

Last year the school held a similar drive setting a record for most donated, but this year the school amassed 5,320 items for the Food Pantry, beating last year’s total. The items will be enough to supply around one-quarter of the Food Pantry supplies for the next year.

“Last year’s success was so amazing – the kids were excited to see the hallways filled with bags of ‘kindness’ again,” said Student Council Volunteer Co-Advisor Karen Zimmer. “Students learned about the impact of disability, illness, unemployment, and fixed incomes and how these can lead to the need for food assistance.”

The student council decided in January to do the project again this spring. The entire school got involved, with classrooms setting individual goals and students tracked their progress during the two-week drive.

Third-grader Marissa Magnussen told her mother she wanted to collect food in front of Albertson’s one day. Magnussen, along with classmate Adelaide Goepfert-Waterman, brought in 353 items in one day.