JROTC cadets help load food collected for the annual campus food drive benefitting local families. Courtesy Princeton ISD

Although inflation continued to hit the North Texas area hard, especially when considering the increased prices at the grocery stores, enough food was collected to assist the 304 family recipients in the Angel Tree program. There were even leftovers to help stock the food pantry shelves.

Campus food drives collected items totaling 15,593, down 738 from 16,331 items collected last year and short 11,285 from the record of 26,878 collected in 2021.

For the fifth year in a row, Harper Elementary School retained its crown as king of the Angel Tree campus food drives in the Princeton ISD.

Harper donations exceeded the second-place finisher, Godwin Elementary, by more than 500 items. 

However, students at Godwin surpassed last year’s campus numbers by jumping from 830 donations in 2023 to 2,877 this year. Smith Elementary followed in third place. And, despite being a new campus, James Elementary brought in the fourth-highest number of food items.

Although the Angel Tree campus food drives continue to see a decline in donations, it was deemed a success for feeding every family that was eligible for assistance through the program for 2024.

“Once again, our community made it happen,” Superintendent Donald McIntyre said. “With every campus in the district participating, the food drive was able to meet the needs of 100% of the Angel Tree families and help replenish the shelves of the local food pantry.”

To complement the boxes of food distributed to every Angel Tree family, the Lions Club contributed a $25 Walmart gift card to be used to purchase a turkey or ham to go with their holiday meals, which is more than $7,600 or 304 Butterballs.

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