4th grader combats childhood hunger with mac & cheese

By Kelcy Dolan
Posted 6/28/16

“Kids can be picky eaters, but every kid loves mac and cheese,” Aidan Ellie, a 4th grader from Lippitt Elementary said.

Aidan, 10, went above and beyond for a school project, finishing a …

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4th grader combats childhood hunger with mac & cheese

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“Kids can be picky eaters, but every kid loves mac and cheese,” Aidan Ellie, a 4th grader from Lippitt Elementary said.

Aidan, 10, went above and beyond for a school project, finishing a two-week macaroni and cheese drive June 17 at his school. Aidan passed out more than 300 flyers throughout Lippitt Elementary School asking for donations. By the end of the two weeks he collected 153 boxes of macaroni and cheese.

The project began in Aidan’s class with the “Genius Hour”, a national classroom initiative that allows students to explore their own interests and creativity during an allotted time frame during school.

One of the inspirations for Genius Hour, according to the official website, is Google’s company policy to allow employee to spend 20 percent of their time working on their own projects. The policy helped improve productivity in the office and many of Google’s latest improvements and software has come from an employee’s pet project.

The same principles are applied in Genius Hour classrooms across the country, students are offered time to explore and research a topic of their choosing.

Aidan decided to spend his time researching child hunger and ways to help end it. The more he researched, the more he wanted to help and eventually decided to hold the drive. Because children may not enjoy the typical canned goods donated during food drives, Aidan wanted to collect a food he knew children would enjoy, macaroni and cheese.

“Did you know 21,000 people die of hunger every day. There are a lot of hungry people even right here in Warwick,” Aidan said. “Even if they don’t look it they could be starving.”

Aidan donated all of the macaroni and cheese to St. Timothy’s Church in Warwick, where Aidan is an altar boy.

Father Andre Messina from St. Timothy’s said the church was more than happy to receive the donation. As part of their community outreach the church does a lot of work for families struggling to put food on the table. Messina said the church helps families with children fairly regularly.

“It is always great to see young children involved in their community and in their church,” Messina said. “To be so generous and charitable is a gift in itself and we were pleasantly surprised Aidan has done all of this.”

Aidan was happy he could do his part in helping feed children in Warwick whose families may not be able to afford food.

“I get three meals a day, but there are kids who only get one or none at all. There are a lot of kids not as fortunate as I am. I’m happy I could do something for them,” Aidan said.

He hopes that he can continue with another food drive at Lippitt next year and hopes he can reach 200 boxes of macaroni and cheese.

Aidan’s parents, Kristin and Jason Ellis, are very proud of their son and said he has always been an overachiever and motivated in school.

“When he sets his mind to something he always sees it through,” Kristin said.

Jason said, “He is passionate about everything he does and does well in all of it.”

“There are a lot of problems in the world I can help, but this is one off the bucket list,” Aidan said.

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