VOA标准英语2012--Students Learn Lesson in Power of Giving

Students Learn Lesson in Power of Giving

On the 15th of each month, a classroom at Pointers Run Elementary School in Maryland, is abuzz with volunteers. Students like Campbell Snoddy collect food that has been donated by students, parents and teachers from each classroom. 

First, the children check to make sure the food isn't too old. Then they sort it by category and put the cans and boxes into bags to be delivered to low-income senior citizens in the community.

“I wanted to teach my daughter about philanthropy, about helping¹ others who were less fortunate in the community," says Julie Rosenthal, who started the non-profit program six years ago. "And I wanted to teach other kids in the community, too.”

At the time, Rosenthal’s daughter Jenny Mandle was a 5th grader. She's now 15 and still involved.

“I honestly thought that food just came right out of the pantry, money grew on trees," Jenny says. "I had no idea that there were people in Howard County², like right where I live, that did not have food every month, that had trouble making ends meet.”

Children and their parents make their deliveries³ around the 15th of the month, when money from monthly⁴ Social Security⁵ checks begins to run out and tough decisions between food and other needs have to be made. 

“I am on a fixed⁶ income and the food, with the prices at the grocery store, it has helped me out tremendously," says Linda Testerman, a food recipient⁷. "Then, when we got our raises [in Social Security] in January, they cut my food stamps back and this really made up a lot of difference.”

Testerman enjoys seeing the children, as well. 

And the students also get the sense of satisfaction that comes with giving.

“It was really fun, it was great to make the senior citizens happy," says Campbell. "It was really cool.”

Sofia Merkowitz, another Food on the 15th volunteer, agrees. “I really liked it because it made me feel really good that people were so happy that they got food.” 

Rosenthal says that is why she has children do more than fill a bag with donated food.

“We want the children to have firsthand experience delivering the food to the people so that they can get that feeling of really making a difference in somebody’s life, a positive difference.” 

The program started with one school delivering 30 bags of groceries. It has grown each year, and now involves 10 schools and several churches. Food on the 15th has delivered more than 12,000 bags so far.

“It is the power of one," Rosenthal says. "People do not realize the power of one is huge; one more bag of food, one more container of macaroni and cheese, one more person helping. One person does make a difference."

Rosenthal's goal is to expand Food on the 15th across the country and around the world. 

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 county   

n.县，郡

参考例句：

• When the good news reached there,the whole county rejoiced.喜讯传到那里时，全县的人都欢欣鼓舞起来。
• In that year county after county fell to the enemy.那一年一个又一个的县城沦入敌人手中。

3 deliveries   

投递( delivery的名词复数 )； [法律]（正式）交付； 分娩； 表演

参考例句：

• Deliveries of mail could be delayed because of cost-cutting. 由于削减成本，邮件的递送可能会延迟。
• We have developed rapid order processing to expedite deliveries to customers. 我们已创造了快速处理订单的方法以便迅速将货物送达顾客。

4 monthly   

adj.每月的，持续一个月的，每月发生的；adv.每月，按月； n.月刊；(复数）monthlies:月经

参考例句：

• The rent on his apartment was his biggest monthly expense.他的房租是每个月最大的开支。
• The monthly rent is $15,inclusive of light and water.每月租金15美元，包括水电费在内。

5 security   

n.安全，安全感；防护措施；保证(金)，抵押(品)；债券，证券

参考例句：

• A security guard brought him down with a flying tackle.一名保安人员飞身把他抱倒。
• There was tight security at the airport when the President's plane landed.总统的专机降落时，机场的保安措施很严密。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。