What sound do 1,455 cereal boxes make when they fall? Light thuds, and big cheers. Stafford’s Grafton Village Elementary School students filled the hallways on Friday, March 14 to cheer as cereal boxes toppled like dominoes through the school.
The breakfast, which was tumbled, wrapped up a two-week cereal donation drive. Students brought in unopened cereal boxes to their classrooms. The classroom with the highest total number won a Domino’s pizza and popsicle party. The winning 5th grade class brought in 162 boxes.
The Grafton Village Parent Teacher Association (PTA) organizes the event yearly. This is the third year; the students have brought in over 1,000 boxes each time. PTA Secretary Ali Johnstone said there’s nothing better than “hearing the students squeal as the real dominos fall down through the hallways, and then seeing the overflowing donation boxes at the end, knowing they are going right out into our local community.”
The dominoes started on the second floor before moving down a flight of stairs into the main hallway, curving through the lower-grade halls and into the gym for a final two-prong collapse. Students were able to help lay out the final design and participated in the clean-up. All classes sat in the hallways to watch the end-of-the-day chain reaction. Teacher of the Year Megan Wilkinson pushed the first box over, starting the ripple effect.
Principal Mike Sidebotham said, “This is a great outreach experience for our students as they can truly understand how their kindness and generosity can help others.” He said the students enjoy searching the halls for their favorite cereals and choosing their favorites to donate to others. Sidebotham added, “By seeing the sheer volume of boxes as the dominoes snake through our entire building, our students are able to grasp how coming together to help others can make a huge impact.”
All cereal boxes will be collected by the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank and distributed throughout the Central Rappahannock region. The food bank provides meals for over 46,000 people in the region. In 2023, they distributed over 7.5 million pounds of food, or 6.2 million meals, according to their website.
Disclosure: The author is the Grafton Village PTA President.
