1. IC HOPE The mission of IC HOPE is to raise awareness
of the problem of hunger in our area
and to alleviate the problem.
ALLY Thank you for this opportunity to share our story with you.
We want to be a part of the solution to a very serious problem in our area and in the country. The mission of IC HOPE is to raise awareness of the problem of hunger in our area and to alleviate this problem.

2. IC HOPE 2012
IC HOPE 2012 created the name, logo, mission, and song of the company. The team donated $2500 to the FoodBank and won the national Jefferson Award for community service.
ANNIE
Two years ago, the IC class created the IC company, its name, logo, mission, and song. They inspired the class that followed.

3. IC HOPE 2013
IC HOPE 2013 donated over $5000 to the FoodBank; the team won multiple awards:
Philip N. Connelly Spirit of Giving Award, Division 4/Elementary Students Change Hunger Award, Lead2Feed Leadership Award, Youth Service Challenge Award, & the first-ever Governor’s Cup.
ANNIE
The Class of 2013 was incredibly successful. They won several awards, they had a lot of fun, and they helped many, many people. We were inspired by their example.

4. IC HOPE 2014
“My goal for this class is to out-do the Class of I want to surpass their amount and set a new goal for the Class of Their legacy just shows how powerful people can be when they join together and work hard.”
CAROLINE
On our first day of IC class in September, we had to write journal entries about our reasons for signing up for the IC HOPE elective. I wrote, “My goal for this class is to outdo the Class of 2013….Their legacy just shows how powerful people can be when they join together and work hard.”
“Our mission is to give meals to kids who are hungry and don’t have food like we do.”

5. Creative Promotional Campaign.
“This may be work,
but it’s okay to make it fun.”
PHOEBE
Our journey began when we joined the Students Change Hunger Campaign at the FoodBank. In addition to raising funds and collecting food, we were mindful of 5 categories for which our work would be assessed. Creative Promotions was first, and we used web page links, social media, commercials, news articles, blasts, and publication in the Community Calendar of the Coast Star.

6. Engaging the Outside Community
PHOEBE
Abby and Harley recorded commercials that aired from September to November on the Breeze and 3 other stations. (play commercial) We opened our car wash and art show to the public. In addition, we partnered with the Brielle Public Library and shared our plans with the Brielle Council.

7. In-School Events
“Some days were hectic; others were stuck in the doldrums. Nothing came easily, or at the drop of a hat – everything we did had to be carefully planned and executed.”
CARLIE
We created new spirit wear, we collected peanut butter and jelly, we baked and collected change. We build a can sculpture, we made and sold Boo-Grams, and we sponsored and ran pretzel sales. The contest ended, but we continued our work: we held two babysitting bashes on parent conference nights, and we are in the middle of another soup collection this week.

8. Awareness & Advocacy
CAROLINE
Our original goal was to beat the Class of 2013’s record. But as we began to run our events, our focus shifted. One of my classmates said, “Now that I’m in IC HOPE, I hope we raise enough money to feed people who really need help. I want to help people so they don’t have to worry about where their next meal is.” We turned our attention to learning more about the problem from experts like Michael Connell, who created yougivegoods.com,; Dom Rodriguez, founder of the Souper Van; and Kat Decker, coordinator of Rutgers Against Hunger. On Friday, November 1, our whole class volunteered at the FoodBank where we inspected, sorted, and stacked donations for over 2 hours. Another classmate reflected, “I saw what the volunteers have to do every day, and it made me admire them, since just one day of working made my arms and legs sore.”
“Every time I think of a hungry family, child or adult,
it makes me wish that food could never go bad
and that I could do more to help.”

9. Student Leadership
“Last year’s eighth grade class seemed to have so much fun planning and running and advertising events. I never thought that it would be a lot of legit work. I was wrong! A lot of work and stress goes into running IC HOPE.”
Today was a bad day for the soup drive. Nobody knows about it. We tried collecting, but nothing was in the box and none of the classes had any. I hope our online food drive pulls through. Tomorrow I will come in at lunch to make a poster to show our progress and, hopefully, grab people’s attention and remind them to bring in soup.”
CAROLINE
There were some bad days and some new opportunities. Collaboration became more important than competition as we realized that we needed to work as a team to solve problems.
CARLIE
One of my classmates summed it up: “Every day in 3rd period, I would go down to IC HOPE and every single person would be doing something, whether it was making a poster, figuring out a problem, going from class to class collecting change, filming a commercial, working on a committee. If you’re in IC HOPE, you’re working every single second.”

10. Student Leadership Award
ANNIE (after Caroline/Carlie)
The IC HOPE 2013 team learned that inspiring others was an important part of their responsibility. After they won the Governor’s Cup last year, they worked with the FoodBank to create the Student Leadership Award. The FoodBank leaders will select a school each year that excels in student leadership, and the award will be given in the name of IC HOPE. At the December awards program, this award was presented for the first time to Monmouth University by the representatives of the 2013 class.
“The Class of 2012 and the Class of 2013 did an amazing job of raising money and
helping the FoodBank, and that’s what I want to do.”
“It only needs to be one
person, then others will follow.
IC HOPE is all about making
a difference. That’s my goal to make a difference.”

11. Brielle Elementary School, Brielle, NJ
IC HOPE
Dedicated to raising awareness and solving the problem of hunger in our area
Brielle Elementary School, Brielle, NJ
Class of 2014 – New Jersey Governor’s Cup – Students Change Hunger Campaign
Early Bird Award
School Holiday Hunger Challenge Award, Division 4
Class of 2013 – New Jersey Governor’s Cup – Students Change Hunger Campaign
Philip N. Connelly Spirit of Giving Award
New Jersey Youth Service Award
Lead2Feed Student Leadership Award
Class of 2012 – New Jersey Youth Service Award
National Jefferson Award for Public Service – Outstanding Leadership in Volunteerism
ALLY We are proud to follow in the footsteps of IC HOPE 2012 and 2013.
In December, we were excited to go to the FoodBank and accept the Early Bird Award and the Division 4 Elementary Award. Last Friday, we learned that Brielle’s IC HOPE team has won the Governor’s Cup again for our hard work.
In September, we were just a bunch of 13 and 14-year-olds looking forward to eighth grade. We are very competitive, so we definitely wanted to give the Challenge everything we had.
We were very lucky to have great students and families in this school that pitched in and participated in our events, and we are extremely lucky to have our own families behind us supporting everything we do.
We feel honored by this award, but the real prize is that we are fortunate enough to help people who really need us. We have learned from the classes before us, and we hope that we are setting good examples for the classes that will follow.
I am proud to announce that the IC HOPE 2014 team will receive the Governor’s Cup here in Brielle on February 20th. We want to extend an invitation to you to join us at that time. Finally, we want to say thanks to Mrs. Carlson and Mr. Sabia and to the Board of Education for supporting our work and believing in us.