Longfellow Elementary students score visit from Blackhawks' star Patrick Sharp

He's a little busy now, what with his team battling for a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals and all, but sometime in the months ahead Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Sharp will be paying a visit to Longfellow Elementary School in Buffalo Grove to congratulate students for their efforts to help those in need.

Longfellow students, their families, and the community collected nearly 76,000 gently used items for Goodwill through its Pass It On Challenge, which encourages schools in the Chicago area to gather and donate as many items as possible during the month of April.

As the school that donated the most items - by a huge amount, no less - Longfellow students earned a forthcoming visit from Sharp.

"Our students were so excited to give back to the community," said Longfellow Principal Rick Herrejon. "It was great to see every family get involved, even if they could only give an item or two. The support from our community was tremendous."

The school collected 75,991 items in all, far ahead of second-place finisher Liberty School in Orland Park, where students donated 45,151 items. Robert Frost Elementary in Des Plaines finished fifth with 28,503 items, and Holy Family Catholic Academy in Inverness placed 13th, with 9,963 items collected.

This was the fourth year of Goodwill's Pass It On Challenge. Last year, nearly 1.8 million items were donated in the Chicago area during the month.

"The Pass It On Challenge continues to grow and we love to see schools and communities rally together to reduce, reuse, and recycle," said Cheryl Lightholder, manager of communications for Goodwill.

"But, most important is that the revenue from the sale of these items in our stores is reinvested in our mission of helping people find jobs."