Newnan High School was tops in the 2006 Can-A-Thon drive in Coweta Count, raising 30,167 in food items to help refill the local Food Pantry.

In all, students at 29 Coweta County Schools continued the Thanksgiving tradition by donating 133,513 items in cans, boxes and cash contributions to go toward this year’s Can-A-Thon. At the food pantry on Greenville Street, Coweta Schools warehouse director Ronnie Proctor directed his crew to help pick up and stack the items on Monday and Tuesday, and Col. David Ingram’s Air Force JROTC students volunteered to help restock the pantry shelves with the incoming bounty.

Newnan High wasn’t the only big donor. East Coweta High School raised 19,053 cans; Lee Middle students donated 15,059, followed by Smokey Road Middle’s contribution of 14,026 cans.

Northside Elementary led their pack with 10,669 cans donated, barely topping White Oak’s contribution of 9,368 items donated. Several elementary schools donated 3,000 cans or more.

Coweta County Schools are regularly the largest contributor of food items to the annual can-A-Thon, which is organized each year by the Newnan Junior Service League. Students, teachers, classrooms – and schools – often compete to see who can bring in the most for their fellow citizens.

At Newnan High, the schools student Government Association held a “Can Blitz” during the week of the East Coweta-Newnan game, raising money and cans from students around various competitions between school administrators. They also held a teacher barbecue fundraiser and organized competitions between high school classes.

“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s hard work for the students,” said NHS Principal Steve Barker. Hard work for the staff, too, as the school had to organize the storage of over 18,000 actual canned and boxed items for pick-up on Monday.

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