Students at Hillis Elementary School last month discovered caring can be fun. In a canned food drive in conjunction with CC!, grade levels competed against one another in to see who could donate more food to the Food Bank of Iowa.

The fifth-graders emerged triumphant, donating 222 items out of more than 600 the school brought in. Afterward, principal Larry Streyffeler told the school assembly he was proud of the students’ efforts. “CHARACTER COUNTS! stresses respect and appreciation,” he was quoted as saying in the Des Moines Register. “Service is an important part of life. This was a way we could reach out and help those less fortunate.”

Among the givers were Billie Jo Brown, a nine-year-old fourth-grader, and Jake Hollister, an eight-year-old third-grader, both from Des Moines’ west side. Brown donated her entire piggybank to the food pantry. Jake summed up the event best by saying, “I learned it’s fun to care and it’s fun to help others.”