NORTH JACKSON — For the sixth year in a row, students in Corinne Tomaino’s class at Jackson-Milton Elementary led a schoolwide drive to benefit other children.

Since Feb. 1, the first-grade students hosted the snack drive, from which Tomaino explained treats — about 1,000 individual snacks — will go to kids at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley, 962 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Youngstown.

“I make it like a service project, so we talk about why these kids need the snacks,” Tomaino said.

Her class gets excited, she said, because other classes in the school will bring in their donations.

As the drive comes together, the first- graders enjoy counting and keeping track of the inventory. “They know what it’s for,” she said.

On hand to receive the donation late last week was Crystal Eckman, ambassador for the Rescue Mission.

“This is one of the best things that kids can actually have,” Eckman said of the drive. “This is amazing” that Tomaino incorporates teaching students at a young age about how the Rescue Mission works.

While Eckman was in the classroom, she said she was amazed by the kinds of questions the kids were asking.

“I’ve never had a class ask me so many questions” about the Mission, Eckman said.

Questions ranged from “How many boys and how many girls are at the Rescue Mission?” to “What color are the walls at the Rescue Mission?”

“I think it’s vital” that the children learn at a young age about helping others, Eckman said.

afox@tribtoday.com