Bartlesville Radio: The area’s best source for news, weather and sports!

Dewey Middle School has partnered with Arvest Bank for the “Million Meals of March” canned food drive. Site Principal Brent Massey says DMS recently extended their deadline to collect cans to Friday, April 12th.

The reason for the extending the deadline is because they have only collected 100 cans for the food drive. Principal Massey says DMS felt like they needed to extend the deadline in order to reach their goal. He also says DMS felt as if they needed to communicate more with the community that the canned food drive is going on as well.

Principal Massey says they have a goal to collect 500 cans this year. This is the second year Dewey Middle School has participated in the event. When DMS participated in the event two years ago, Massey says they collected up to 400 canned goods.

While parents are normally the one's to give cans to their students class, Massey encourages all to lend a hand in the donation effort. He says anyone can donate. All you have to do is drop by the Dewey Middle School Offices and give them the canned goods. Massey says the food does not have to be connected to the school at all.

Million Meals is an Arvest Bank initiative to feed our neighbors in need and raise awareness about food insecurity. With your help, Arvest Bank hopes to provide more than a million meals for the 70-plus food banks and organizations in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma they have partnered with this year.

All donations of both food and funds stay local. Donations collected in the 18 Dewey Middle School classrooms will stay local as well. Their donations will benefit Mary Martha Outreach in Bartlesville. The winning grade (the grade with the most cans) will have a cookout lunch courtest of Arvest Bank in Dewey.

Arvest is conducting its annual initiative in the spring because food banks report an increased need for food items in the summer, when many children do not have the benefit of eating meals at school. Donations also tend to be lower in the spring and summer than at other times of the year.