It'll be Healy's sixth year participating in the Walk for Hunger, a 20-mile walk that begins on the Boston Common and winds through Boston, Newton, Watertown and Cambridge to return to Boston Common. Last fall, Project Bread recognized the middle school students with an Appreciation Award for their efforts. The school's family and consumer sciences class is making survival kits with bandages, sunscreen, energy bars and other necessities. Last week, the students began selling paper sneakers, which are posted in the school's lobby.
Orange shoes represent businesses with larger donations.
Thanks to the fact-packed posters the kids hung all over campus, the classes will remember the walk's importance long after they've polished off their pizzas. The walk is one of the leading sources of funding for emergency food programs in the state, said Merzbacher. Project Bread supports nearly 400 soup kitchens, food pantries, food banks and food salvage programs in 129 Massachusetts communities. The children will get to dance to a DJ and play sports while their parents get a break for the night. But Goldman students won't take a break until they've finished the walk.