Model Middle School in Shannon, Georgia has set a new standard for the number of cans contributed to the Salvation Army's annual Holiday Can-a-thon.  Model Middle students and teachers delivered over 63,852 cans of food to the Can-a-Thon collection site at the Forum in Rome on Friday, November 30, 2007.  The cans were coming in so fast that the final total increased even after the sign was made for the trip to deliver the cans.  The total tops the old record of just over 52,000 cans contributed by perennial winner, Pepperell Middle School.  Floyd County Schools are regularly one of the top groups in the state donating in this special effort to help feed the hungry during the holiday season.  The efforts of our students and teachers regularly make the Rome collection point one of the top sites in the state.     

The record collection is a school and community effort for Model Middle.  Principal David Tucker said, “This was truly a community effort for Model Middle School with an outpouring of support from the community, parents, teachers and students.”  Some of the methods Model Middle used to reach the record included a school talent show to collect cans and the first basketball game of the year’s admission was cans or donated money for the Can-a-thon drive.  The total collection divided by the school population would equal an impressive 127 cans donated per child.  Alisha Holtzendorf, a teacher at Model Middle, was the captain of the Can-a-thon effort this year and David Tucker attributed the school’s success to her hard work and dedication to this community cause.  Tucker concluded, “Model Middle’s motto is second place is not an option so coming in first in this year’s drive is wonderful but the best feeling comes from giving to those in need at this special time of year.”  

Model Middle arrived at The Forum in a caravan of buses with 181 students to make their holiday food delivery.  The students helped the Salvation Army unload and separate the cans of food. The students were selected to take the cans to the Forum because they were the top contributors in the record breaking effort.  Everyone at Model Middle School gets involved in the Can-a-thon in a big way. The school counsel was heavily involved in promoting the effort, teachers and staff drove buses to The Forum, and a number of community business made contributions.