Holiday in a jar

Diana Valleroy's classroom at Central Middle School resembles an assembly-line factory these days.

Students have spent time after school a couple of days a week carefully measuring out dried beans and seasoning into jars and decorating cheerful greeting tags to affix to the end product: soup in a jar.

The jars were delivered to elderly residents last week, along with homemade cards from the middle school students.

The CMS project is just one of many local students are participating in.

At Scott City Middle School, students delivered care boxes to elderly in Scott County last week.

At St. Paul Lutheran School, students delivered fleece blankets to local nursing homes.

The teachers in charge all say the student get just as much from the projects as the recipients.

"Some of the kids don't have the advantage of being able to give to someone else," said Valleroy, who teaches sixth grade at CMS. "It gives them the joy of giving to the community, because the community gives us a lot."

Valleroy's students also created cupcakes in coffee mugs to deliver as part of the Christmas for the Elderly program. Most of the students donated a dollar to help pay for the supplies.

Eleven-year-old Jake Wright said helping people was his motivation for staying after school to work on the projects.

"This is in case there are elderly who can't get out of the house to run errands or buy groceries," said Wright. "We're helping make their normal lives better."

Bailey Ledure, also a student at CMS, said she thinks it's especially im portant to remember those in need during the holidays.

"Lots of people don't have food or shelter," she said. "Or maybe they have no way of getting out. The food is just a way to say 'Merry Christmas,'" said Ledure.