Now 84 years old, Alan Shawn Feinstein wants to ensure his program recognizing the good deeds of elementary and middle school students carries on for at least another decade.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Feinstein pledged $15 million over the next 10 years to the more than 150 Feinstein Leadership Schools in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts.

“If I’m not going to be around, I want to make sure it continues,” he said.

Feinstein is satisfied with the program bearing his name. He said students have performed tens of thousands of good deeds. Since starting the program 22 years ago, he estimates more than 200,000 students have been recognized as Feinstein Junior Scholars. He said these scholars and their schools have helped raise $2.5 billion in the campaign to fight hunger, which also carries his name.

Funding is to come from the Feinstein Foundation, which, depending on the market, Feinstein said is about $35 million. Asked how he could fulfill his pledge, not knowing what the foundation might do in years to come, Feinstein said his son and daughter are key board members and he is sure they would follow his wishes.

Feinstein said amounts going annually to Feinstein Leadership Schools vary depending on the programs with which they get involved. As part of annual food drives, the foundation gives $1 for every can of food donated, up to $1,000 per school.

Feinstein estimates about half of the state’s public and parochial elementary schools are Feinstein schools.

Feinstein has developed somewhat of a celebrity status among students. Often during the academic year, he’ll visit schools, addressing auditoriums and all-purpose rooms filled with students and anxious to be recognized by him. In a visit to Aldrich Junior High School last September, he appeared in a gold zipper jacket to shouts of “we love you” from some seventh-graders.

Feinstein, who told students that they have the power to put smiles on people’s faces and “there’s nothing more powerful,” presented the school with $10,000 that Principal John Livsey said would be used for the school’s A program. The As stress positives and asks students to “Always be respectful; Always put forth your best effort; Always have integrity and Always take responsibility.”

Following his visit to Aldrich, Feinstein stopped at Wyman Elementary School where he also brought his message to reward others with good deeds. He gave the school $2,000.

Feinstein’s efforts to fight hunger started in 1997 with a $1 million food challenge to Rotary International. He matched up to $1 million raised by Rotary. He went on to found the Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America at the University of Rhode Island and claims through the challenge process to have helped organizations fighting hunger raise an estimated $2.5 billion.

In a statement released by the foundation, Feinstein says the $1.5 million to be given each year for the next 10 years is “to be used solely at the discretion of the [Feinstein schools’] principals for the betterment of their students.”