Fifth-grader hosts food drive

Barnum Woods fifth-grader Sophie Di Scala, 11, decided to collect donations for Island Harvest after reading about a Wisconsin 12-year-old, Zach Harmon, who was able to collect more than 2,000 donations last April. Similar to Zach, Sophie asked family, friends and neighbors to contribute items in April, her birthday month.

Melinda Di Scala, Sophie’s mother, is a middle school teacher at I.S. 77 in Queens and read the article about Zach in “Time for Kids” magazine. Knowing her daughter was looking for a service project, she shared the information with Sophie who excitedly took on the challenge.

“I get so many presents every year and I felt bad for kids who don’t get presents, who don’t even have food,” said Sophie.

With help from her mom, Sophie made flyers that she handed out in the neighborhood. She said family and friends were intrigued when she asked for the donations and willingly headed to the store. Sophie happily collected 250 items by the end of the month.

“For so long she’s been wanting to do something for charity,” said Melinda. “I’m so proud of her for doing this.”

Sophie also wrote a letter to Zach to tell him how inspirational his actions were and he responded, sharing ways that helped Sophie contribute even more items to Island Harvest. Thanks to Zach, Sophie also asked for monetary donations and purchased toothpaste, laundry detergent and other household goods that an Island Harvest worker said was lacking.

Sophie admitted that she did still receive some birthday presents, but enjoyed collecting items for locals in need and plans to make it an annual event.

When she isn’t in school, Sophie said she likes to play soccer, practice the violin, take part in Girl Scout service projects and is always singing.