Mundelein students collect food to help brighten holidays

National Junior Honor Society students at Carl Sandburg Middle School in Mundelein packed several thousand canned and packaged goods Tuesday to help feed needy families during the holiday season.

Almost 6,000 food items, including soups, macaroni and cheese, and fruits and vegetables, were collected at the school for donation to the Fremont Township Food Pantry.

"It is a good thing to do for the community and I'm proud of us for how much we've gotten," said NJHS President Dillon Blake as 18 eighth graders scrambled around a room sorting cans and packing them into boxes. "We are all good friends and it was a lot of fun."

In addition to the food, the school collected money used to buy more items for the pantry.

"We feel so blessed and honored that students came together to help out the community," said Brandi Gigiano, the NJHS teacher sponsor.