When the third graders at The Episcopal School of Knoxville began their annual canned food drive for the pantry at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in November, their first thought was numbers: Could they meet their goal of gathering 1,500 pounds?

Some 3,387 pounds of groceries later, the focus had become how many hungry people would receive food. In two weeks, two third grade classes collected enough food among their 250 K-8th grade classmates to supply 225 families of four a three-day supply of meals each.

The cans of corn, peas, beans, Vienna sausage, and other foods, and the packages of paper towels, soup mix, diapers and toothbrushes filled load after load of parents’ vans and pickup trucks. Parents took them to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Chestnut Street in East Knoxville where they would be distributed in grocery bags to needy people. The drive ended on Nov. 17.

“That’s 36 meals times 225, or 8,100 meals. That’s a lot of groceries!” said Jim Wright, director of FISH Hospitality Pantries of Knoxville. He said the rule of thumb is that 15 pounds of groceries will feed a family of four for three days.

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