As part of the "Project Care" initiative, the LCMS Junior Beta Club collected over 800 cans of food for the Lincoln County Food Pantry. Pictured with a sampling of the food are: (l-r) Carrie Parker, operations manager for the food pantry; Alex Western; Alec Burt; Tyler Cole; Nicholas Wade; and Travis Reid, food pantry chaplain and vice president. As always, "Project Care" at LCMS was a success.

The goal of the annual initiative is to reach out to the needy in the community by collecting food for the Lincoln County Food Pantry and raising funds to purchase Christmas gifts for local children.

To collect items for the food pantry, the LCMS Junior Beta Club asked middle school students to help build a Christmas tree in the school lobby using cans of food. When all was said and done, the tree boasted over 800 cans of green beans, pineapple, spaghetti, corn, peas, etc.

To give the students an added incentive, it was announced that the class donating the most cans and/ or money to the food pantry would receive a pizza party. The winner was Benton Willis' homeroom class which collected a total of 300 cans.

The Junior Beta Club also sponsored an "Angel Tree" to help provide Christmas gifts for local children. For each $1 donation, a paper angel was placed on the tree.

The school raised $175 for this worthy cause.

Had the students reached their goal of $300, they would have been allowed to assemble in the school gymnasium to throw buckets of slime on Principal Pam Carmichael.

Although they did not get to "slime" the principal this year, the students are already making plans for December of 2007.

According to Tonya Burt, Junior Beta Club advisor, the students had a wonderful time collecting money for the Angel Tree. "They knew they were playing a part in making this a Christmas to remember for children right here in Lincoln County." In other comments, she thanked

the members of the Junior Beta Club, the Sixth-Grade Class, and Principal Carmichael for making Project Care a success. She also expressed her appreciation to the students, faculty, and staff at LCMS for making donations to the food pantry and the Angel Tree.

In closing, Burt said, "Lincoln County has some fine young citizens it can be very proud of. These students worked hard to make a significant contribution to our community through Project Care. They did a fantastic job."

Serving as the assistant advisors for the Junior Beta Club are Stacey Radford and Patty Arthur.