SHS sophomore stocks Booker Middle pantry

The students at Booker Middle School are set for the summer with snacks following a donation of 6,000 granola bars.  

Sarasota High School sophomore and Community Youth Development SRQ Volunteen Conor Andrich unloaded the donation on Wednesday, May 4 with his parents at Booker Middle. The pantry of snacks was stocked to be used for the Summer Transition Program. 

The donation is part of Andrich’s project for Global Youth Service Day in April. Andrich was awarded a $250 grant from Make Your Mark on Hunger to impact his community two months ago and began fundraising for his goal. He organized the donation drive and consulted Children's Healthy Pantry to determine how to help a local school. 

“I decided on doing granola bars because it’s one of the main snacks that kids like,” Andrich said.

He set a goal of collecting $1,200 to purchase 600 granola bars to donate to a local school that would benefit from the donation. Andrich surpassed the goal through donations and purchasing granola bars at 10 cents each for a total of 6,000 bars to donate to Booker Middle School.

“It’s definitely shown me a lot of new skills like organization and how to delegate,” Andrich said. “It feels really good that I’m doing something I feel is important for my community.”

The Summer Transition program is a free, six-week program for incoming sixth grade students to ease the move to middle school. Program Director S. Kay Daniels was thrilled that Andrich was compelled to help fellow students. 

“This ensures that they will have more for breakfast and I’ll have these for them in the classroom when they need a snack,” Daniels said.