BY BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
An Adams Central third grader recently became a hero when she launched a campaign that aided the Hero Meals program in Decatur.
Lydia Bollenbacher, 9, along with her parents, Renee and Rick, delivered over 400 boxes of cereal to the program which provides free, nutritious food items to elementary students in the North Adams system.
It is designed to ensure the students have access to nourishing food through weekends and holidays.
Volunteers gather each week during the school year (except on school holidays) to pack food into bags which are presented to students at the school. All the food is donated by various individuals and organizations.
Lydia decided to give a boost to the program by collecting cereal. “She overheard us talking about the program in the United Way office (where Renee volunteers) and decided she wanted to help the students,” her mother explained.
So Lydia took donation boxes to Dolco, Thunderbird and Adams Memorial Hospital in Decatur, and the post office in Monroe.
Her efforts produced over 400 boxes of cereal for Hero Meals.
This week, Lydia, her mother and her father, Rick, delivered the cereal to the volunteers preparing to pack the meals. Then the three of them jumped in the food line to help stuff the bags for kids!
(Lydia is with her mother in one photo and is stuffing a bag in the other.)
