The shelves at Rosenberg-Richmond Helping Hands are a lot fuller thanks to the efforts of the school children and employees at Lamar Consolidated Independent School District. This year, the district combined its recognition of Red Ribbon Week with an effort to give back to the community, collecting food at all campuses.
Students at Campbell Elementary joined other LCISD campuses in collecting food for Rosenberg-Richmond Helping Hands.
Helping Hands is a non-profit organization formed by churches in western Fort Bend County to help people in crisis by providing basic needs on a short-term basis.
So much food was collected that the Lamar CISD grounds crews had to use trailers to make multiple trips to Helping Hands warehouse.
Red Ribbon Week began after the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985. In Agent Camarena’s home town, Calexico, CA, the public outpouring of support turned in to an organized community response in which citizens wore red ribbons. They became a voice for prevention in order to reduce the demand for illegal drugs and illegal use of legal drugs in America.
Melinda Morgan, LCISD’s Safe and Drug-Free Schools coordinator, decided to take Red Ribbon Week a step farther this year.
“We’ve always said ‘You can stay off drugs,’ but this year we asked for a different type of can: a can of food to help their neighbors,” said Morgan.
