PLATTSBURGH — Those in need will have more to eat this winter thanks to two local businessmen, 30 Plattsburgh High School students and countless coupons.
Winslow Moore, president of Edge Design & Consulting Inc., and Jon Poissant, CEO of JFP Enterprises, recently teamed up with members of the school's National Honor Society for a food drive with a thrifty twist.
Moore and Poissant each gave $500 to the society and challenged students to purchase as much nonperishable food as possible, taking advantage of coupons, discounts and sales.
The idea for the challenge, Moore explained, came from the TLC television show "Extreme Couponing."
"I was watching TV one night, and I saw the 'Extreme Couponing,' and it just kind of popped in my head," he said.
COUPONS IN TOW
Moore explained that the two companies make donations to various charitable organizations at the end of each year, and he thought getting students involved in a coupon challenge to benefit a local food shelf would not only help the community, but would also be fun for the students.
Members of the National Honor Society accepted the challenge about two weeks before Christmas.
The students decided to spice things up a bit by splitting into 10 teams of three each and competing against one another to secure the best grocery bargains. Each group received $100 to spend as wisely as possible.
"My group started with just looking at one store and their sales and then looking for manufacturers' coupons to kind of work with that and take more (of the cost) off," said Kaylee Pobocik, National Honor Society president.
Then, with coupons in tow, each team hit the stores to load up shopping carts.
"I think everybody did a really nice job," Pobocik said, as she stood next to the massive amount of canned and dry foods amassed by the teams.
NO LOSING TEAMS
In fact, the students were able to purchase so much food with their cash and coupons that they are uncertain how they will get it from their classroom at the High School to Plattsburgh's Interfaith Food Shelf, where it will be distributed to those struggling financially.
"We're going to have to find a way to mass transport all of it," Pobocik said.
The winning team had not been determined as of Monday, as students were still in the process of totalling their shopping receipts, but regardless of the results, participants said, there are surely no losing teams.
"I think the reason it was kind of a nice project is it was sort of a winning situation for everyone," said Elliott Munger, National Honor Society corresponding secretary.
While the society does service projects on a regular basis, the food drive was unique to the group because it expanded beyond the scope of their previous efforts.
"It was really different because most of our group projects were, like, everyone does them together for an organization," said Justine Rotz, National Honor Society treasurer, "and this one was us getting out into the community and actually involving other people in our project."
"It was just a great thing to open our variety of places that we help in our community," Pobocik said.
Email Ashleigh Livingston at: alivingston@pressrepublican.com
