Tippecanoe Valley Middle School and Mentone Elementary School both held successful food drives for Mary & Jerry’s Helping Hands food pantry in Mentone.

The annual food drives started on Nov. 13 and ran through Nov. 17. Mentone Elementary School collected more than 3,000 food items and more than $1,000 in monetary donations. Each grade level competed to see which one could bring in the most points. Fifth grade came in first, followed by fourth grade, and then kindergarten.

“This has been an amazing week. Mentone students have once again shown their amazing kindness and generosity,” said LeeAnn Rock, a teacher and student council advisor at Mentone Elementary School.

At TVMS, all first-period classes competed against each other. One non-expired, non-perishable food item equaled one point, while one dollar donated equaled one point. TVMS raised more than $500 in monetary donations and brought in 1,400 food items. Sara Thomas’ first-period class finished the week in first place with 284 points.