Fifth grade students at the Gibbons School in Stoughton hand on to cans they donated for a recent "Souper Bowl" drive. All items collected went to the Stoughton Food Pantry.

While many were looking forward to eating big meals during last weekend's Super Bowl, students at the Gibbons Elementary School were thinking about food for another reason.

Three weeks ago, hoping the Patriots would be playing in the big game, Gibbons School Principal Dr. Donna Tanner decided to use Super Bowl spirit to kick off a different competition.

With goal posts set up in the lobby, the principal scored a touchdown with the idea to host a "Souper" Bowl to collect food for the needy in town.  

Hoping for a winning score of a 1,000 cans of soup, the principal was delighted when last Friday the cans were tallied and the final score was higher than predicted.

Calling the fundraiser "really neat," fifth grader Brenda Lambert said, "I've never seen so many cans."  All totaled, the school collected 1,033 cans of soup for the Stoughton Food Pantry.

Another fifth grader, Julia Sjoquist said, "I am proud that we all did it together to help people who really need food."   Students in the fifth grade counted the cans daily and made announcements over the loud speaker as to how many were collected and how many more were needed to reach the goal, according to the principal.

"They added little bits of inspiration along the way," said Tanner. The fundraiser, she explained, was a great way for the school to reach out to the community.

"It was all about giving back to their communityÖit was a nice learning experience for the students," said Tanner.

Read the complete article in the Stoughton Journal.