Less than a week before Thanksgiving, Salford Hills Elementary School students said they are well aware that they have a lot to be grateful for. 

        "I always like to do things that help other people.  There's too many who just don't have enough; like the amount of money and the amount of food they need," said Cassidy Harvey, a fourth-grader.

        "They know we're fortunate, each one of us, to have food and clothes and houses and all the things we just kind of have and need on a daily basis and we take for granted," said Janet Smith, a fifth grade teacher at the school.  "And these are families who just needed a little extra help."

        Smith, with the help of about 40 STARS (Service Through Active Roles at School) club students, hosted a food drive at the Upper Salford Township school to help families who are struggling this year. 

        And the students know the families in need aren't just some nameless person they may never get to meet.  They are chosen by Salford Hills' guidance counselors from within the school community.  The students walk the halls with some of those children each and every day.

        The families remain anonymous to the group, but Smith, who runs the STARS program, said the students are always eager to help.  For the "Turkey Box" drive, each homeroom was asked to donate a certain food group or item to go toward the boxes.  A tradition at the school since at least the late 1990's, Smith said it used to be a Thanksgiving meal drive but has now morphed into something a little bigger.

        "We really try to make sure it's not just cranberry sauce and stuffing and the Thanksgiving things but staples that can store and hold them for weeks and months afterwards," she said.

        The students collected items like pasta, canned meats, vegetables and fruits, condiments, juice boxes and cereals as well as tissues, paper towels and hand soap.

        And before the school's doors opened Friday, in a flurry of activity that resembled a massive relay race, the STARS students lined up and took a number of items in their arms handed off from staff and ran to different stations to box the food.  The food was organized and boxed in a matter of minutes. 

        This year they amassed enough to donate three or four large boxes to 10 different families.  Teachers also donated a turkey to each of the families and Landis Supermarket of Vernfield generously donated gift cards, Smith said.

        "It's quite remarkable," said Principal Dave Purnell on the outcome of the food drive.  "It's an amazing display of generosity."      

        Fifth-grader Afreen Ahmad said she was really excited when her name was picked through the school's lottery system to be a part of STARS, which is open to third- through fifth-graders.

        "It's good to help," she said.  

        "I do it because it helps kids who need food and don't have much," said third grade student Cameron Taylor.

        STARS also helps run fundraisers almost every month, said Smith, whether it's a school spirit day, where proceeds go to an area non-profit, or organizing and submitting Box Tops for Education®.  In January the club collects money in "Jingle Boxes," which is then turned into gift cards for those in need and they also put together goody bags for the Keystone Opportunity Center in Souderton.  Those bags, for children of families who come in for emergency assistance from the organization over the summer, hold snacks and hand-held activities.

        "Every time we ask our families for something they really rise to the occasion.  I think they just kind of get it," Smith said of the students and their enthusiasm to help others.  "We have; we give – it's as simple as that.

        "It just makes me really proud that when we ask everyone helps.  Families don't ever ask 'Who is this going to,' Who is this food for?,' 'What's my money for?'  They just help.  And the teachers with the turkeys; I put out an email yesterday saying we needed more and we got six more this morning," Smith said, smiling.  I'm really proud to be a part of a community that this is second nature."