Christmas is the season of giving, and in that spirit, Edgewood Middle School students have been collecting canned good and other items for the past two weeks for Combined Community Services.

Friday was the last day for students to bring in items.

One student, Zach Woodcock, has been an inspiration to the school to give, said his Tiger Time teacher Lorinda Kline. Woodcock brought in three vanloads of items.

"It was crammed," said Woodcock.

EMS has held a drive for the past five years. In the past, classrooms were awarded for bringing in the most items.

This year is different. Linda Burch, EMS math teacher who organizes the drive, asked CCS what items were needed most. Based on CCS' need, a point system was created based on what kind of items students brought in. While a can of vegetables awards a classroom with one point, a 100-ounce bottle of laundry detergent is worth 10 points. And though one disposable diaper is only one point, a student who brought in a bag of 80 diapers helped their class receive 80 points.

Each class that meets their goal is invited to a Christmas cookie party Tuesday. Burch's class is baking the cookies today from 8:30 a.m. to noon. They plan to bake 125 dozen cookies. Last year, 70 dozen were made.

Based on percentage of their goal met, the top Tiger Time also gets a sundae party sometime next week. That award goes to Kline's class, Burch said, who met their goal - 1,172 percent.

"They were really pushed by Mr. (Ben) Barkey's class," said Burch. Barkey's class met their goal of 1,071 percent.

The point total for the entire school is 27,000. Burch said a conservative estimate puts the value of all the items at approximately $5,400.

The items will be delivered to CCS Monday.

"It's just pretty incredible," said Burch. [[In-content Ad]]