Nice People Donate More Than 200 Pounds Of Onions To School That Had Its Garden Plundered

(ilovebutter)

After some total jerk or jerks stole 100 onions from a patch cultivated by elementary school kids in Maine, a whole lot of other nice people have turned around and made the situation into a positive one, by donating more than 200 pounds of onions to replace the ones that were stolen. Feel that? Your heart is applauding.

The story caught the attention of onion growers around the country, reports CentralMaine.com, prompting generous hearts to send in or drop off bags of onions so the kids can still donate them to local food pantries and use them in the school cafeteria, which was the plan for the 100 onions grown by the fifth-grade class.

So far, more than 200 pounds of onions have rolled in from nearby farms, and more are coming from as far away as Texas and New York.

“They grow produce to donate to local food pantries and for the college cafeteria, so when she saw we were donating the onions for the same reason, she connected,” the kids’ teacher said of the director of a farm at a college nearby. “She brought them in this morning.”

Another local farmer read the article and called up the school to say he wanted to donate some onions. He brought in two 50-pound sacks of onions and told the school that the reason he did was not only because he felt bad for the kids, but for the person who took their onions in the first place, saying “he doesn’t know any better.”

“I mean, look at that!” one student said. “We got 210 onions here and we’re getting another 100 from Texas and 100 from New York. We’re getting more than we planted. It’s not tomatoes, it’s not pizza, it’s not apples — it’s onions. I mean, who would donate onions? Who would steal onions?”

Who indeed? We might never know, but the teacher says it’s all part of a learning process for the students.

“So, this is the lesson the kids are learning,” she said. “It renews their belief in human nature, which is what disasters do. Not that disasters are good, but when something goes wrong and you hang in there, something good comes of it.”

Onion donations bloom after Waterville school garden theft [CentralMaine.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist