Fishburne Military School Helping Do Most Good

by Cadet Bevan Morrison-Rodgers and Chris Richmond
photos by Cadet Thaddeus Edwards
Thursday night Fishburne Military School’s Key Club gathered down at Salvation Army for their annual Christmas box packing. Each year, Cadets answer the call of the Salvation Army to help feed the area’s less fortunate. The food drive, coordinated by the Waynesboro Kiwanis Club and Salvation Army, depends greatly each year upon Fishburne’s Key Club students to provide much needed support such as this box packing event. This year, the Caissons set for themselves a goal to pack 250 boxes full of canned goods.

After starting the evening with a heart-touching prayer, the Cadets then broke off into an assembly line and began packing the boxes. With two cadets taping together boxes and bringing them over to the line to be filled by the next group of Cadets, the boxes began filling rapidly. Each filled box was then passed down the line the boxes in mere seconds to be closed  and stacked for distribution.

As the evening went on, it became clear that this year’s demand might outstrip the resources collected. Food began to run scarce as cadets continued to fill and stack boxes. The Cadets continued pushing for the goal of completing 250 boxes to be packed. The counter, Chandler Wright,  calling out “150 boxes! “motivated the assembly line to keep the progress continuing.

In all, 196 boxes were filled and stacked by the time supplies ran out. “This is the first time we’ve run out,” said Mrs. Debbie Todd, FMS Development Director and Key Club Advisor. “Sadly,” Todd noted, indicating stacks of cans the were unusable, “if people had checked the expiration dates on the items they donated, we would have reached the goal tonight.”

The completed food boxes will be distributed to needy families on December 19th.

“This event is a great outlet for the Cadets;” Mrs. Todd noted, “they really do understand the meaning of this season and they are eager to help. Tonight, the boys were smiling and focused and having so much fun doing this.”

After the last of the boxes were stacked, the Cadets were treated to pizza and cookies at the FMS Alumni House. “We had a chance to talk about how things went,” Todd said, “and because of the shortage we witnessed this year, the [FMS] Key Club has already begun planning a food drive of their own to support next year’s Salvation Army efforts.”

The FMS Key Club will continue their efforts this year to support Salvation Army on Saturday by ringing bells outside Kroger on Arch Avenue in Waynesboro. In addition to kettle donations, the Caissons will also continue to collect canned food during their Saturday bell ringing session. Donations can be dropped off at Arch Avenue Waynesboro beside Kroger. “Dry goods, such as pastas are definitely in demand,” Todd said, “we see plenty of canned vegetables.”