Courtesy photo Above, second graders in Paulette Pepin’s class at Cameron Elementary sit with some of the food they brought in to donate to the Salvation Army. Show are Collin Brown, Kaedin Meade, Ella Williams, Emily Thill, Justin Straub, and Linkoln Chenier.

GLADSTONE — After seeing the news and hearing of the empty shelves at the Salvation Army, Paulette Pepin, second grade teacher at Cameron Elementary, wanted to find a way for her class to help. She decided to run a food drive in conjunction with March Reading Month in an effort to help fill the pantry shelves with food while filling students’ shelves with books.

Her class began collecting nonperishable food items, toiletries, and personal hygiene items needed to help stock the Salvation Army’s shelves. Donations brought to class were exchanged for new books donated by Pepin. The last week of school prior to spring break, the class invited the rest of the Cameron families to join them, and any student/family donating received a new book.

Pepin encourages her class every year to be involved in giving what they can, when they can, from letters to veterans on the Honor Flight, to holiday cards and care packages for service members, to pajamas and books for children in foster care.