North Ridge Students Collect Cans for 'Souper Bowl'

Students at collected more than 8,000 cans and containers of soupearlier this month, which will be donated to the Harry Chapin Food Bank at Hauppauge-based Long Island Cares.

The students collected the cans as part of an annual event dubbed the "Souper Bowl."

“Our Souper Bowl was a huge success, and we doubled the amount of soup we collected last year,” said physical education teacher Lorraine Esposito, who runs the event. "A special thank you goes to the North Ridge community for the overwhelming donations.”

Mrs. Schwartz’ second grade class gathered 1,289 cans of soup and was rewarded with extra Safety City gym time. Rather than playing, the children chose to help box up the soup.

The drive raised enough food to create 6,750 meals for families in need on Long Island, according to Elana Sissons, food drive coordinator for Long Island Cares.

serves 600 Nassau and Suffolk County soup kitchens, food pantries, emergency shelters, senior centers, and kids after school programs with food, school supplies, personal care items, birthday party supplies, pet food, coats, new toys and baby products. In 2011, 6.3 million pounds of product were distributed.