BRIELLE – The Governor’s Cup was presented to Brielle Elementary School on Friday, April 29th by local businessman Joe Leone, and Carlos Rodriguez, Executive Director of the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Led by teacher Matt Fallon, Brielle Elementary participated in Students Change Hunger, a statewide initiative that challenged schools from Pre-K through college to participate in a friendly competition to collect food and funds to help keep the shelves stocked throughout the holiday season at their local food banks.
Sponsored by The New Jersey Federation of Food Banks, Students Change Hunger resulted in over 178,000 pounds of food and over $45,000 in monetary donations for the state’s five food banks. Of the 235 New Jersey schools that participated, Brielle was one of the two schools that reigned supreme; the other, Cambridge School in Pennington. Both schools earned their share of the coveted Governor’s Cup for their achievements in collecting food and funds, hunger advocacy, and for their inventive marketing efforts within the community.
Brielle students collected 1,392 pounds of food and $3,800 in monetary contributions for The FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. “Be different and make a change” was this year’s motto, partnering with different community groups to raise money, awareness, and food for the Students Change Hunger campaign. From the first class, it seemed evident that the students understood their mission was to not only raise money and food, but to get the word out about the issue of hunger in the community.
Brielle Elementary did just that and then some.