A group of Libby Middle School students recently put their heads together in a project that is benefitting the local community.

Gifted and talented students in the seventh and eighth grades in the Libby Educational Enrichment Program (LEEP) wanted to do a community leadership project.

The growing concerns of area homeless and food insecurity led the group to put on a food drive and donate the collection.

School counselor Brittany Katzer, who also serves as the Gifted and Talented Coordinator, explained that the food drive became a competition between the seventh and eighth grades.

“It resulted in more than 100 cans of food,” student Margaret Smithsalter said. 

Part of the effort included a “passion project” which student Evan Woody said was to focus on the homeless in the Libby area.

Part of the competition included a donut party, put on by United for Youth.

Katzer said Bill Moe’s class won the seventh-grade competition while Tony Knapp’s eighth-grade class was the winner.

After seeking a recipient for the donated food, Libby Christian Church was chosen. 

Late last year, the church began construction on a larger food pantry, so the donations were very welcome.

According to information on the church’s website, the food pantry and the mission shop are both open on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and are located behind the main church building. The food pantry is most easily accessed from the Kootenai River Road, while the mission shop is best accessed from Pipe Creek Road. 

The mission shop has clean, good, used clothing available for free to anyone who can use it. Things such as sheets, blankets and small household items are available as well. 

The food pantry and the mission shop both accept donations. There is a drop box you can place good used clothes in at the mission shop or you can always stop in at the main church building during office hours with your donation. Your food donations can be dropped off on Thursdays at the pantry or during office hours at the church front office. 

The gifted and talented program recently had a new logo designed during a contest.

Sixth-grade students, Kason Courteau, Waylon Katzer and Acton Farmer won the contest with the "LEEP" frog. The school then printed shirts printed for all of the LEEP kids.

Students who score at or above the 95th percentile on an individually administered school intelligence measure are automatically eligible for LEEP.

They may also qualify for the program by scoring in the 91-94 percentile, score at the “exceeds” level on the reading and math Exact Path diagnostic, and score high in a number of areas in parent and teacher surveys.