DIXFIELD — Students and staff members at T.W. Kelly Dirigo Middle School have gathered 763 nonperishable items for their food drive that began in early November.

Students from the middle school, Dirigo Elementary School and Dirigo High School all participated in the food-collection effort.

The food will be divided among needy students’ families and food pantries in Dixfield, Canton, Carthage and Peru, according to Bethany Meehan-Poulin, a teacher at Dirigo Elementary School and High School and a member of the Dirigo Education Association.

Some students, including seventh-grader Travis Wright, had help from parents and grandparents, who scoured their pantries to donate items for the food drive. Wright and homeroom classmates won a contest by bringing in 232 food items.

River Valley Rising Director Allie Burke and staff member Melissa Harding helped guide students from the middle school’s Positive Cougar Club in their food-collection efforts.

Keira Kelly, a seventh-grader and Positive Cougar Club member, said she and other students helped prepare boxes needed to collect food for the school’s homerooms.

On Monday morning, members of the four food pantries receiving food are scheduled to pick up the donations at Dirigo Elementary School.

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net

Educator Bethany Meehan-Poulin talks Thursday with a student during food drive preparations at Dirigo Middle School. Dirigo Elementary School and Dirigo High School also participated in the drive. (Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times)

Dirigo Middle School students, pictured with River Valley Rising staff members Melissa Harding, left rear, Allie Burke and Educator Bethany Meehan-Poulin, gathered 763 nonperishable food items for their food drive that started in early November. (Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times)

Dirigo Elementary School teacher Bethany Meehan-Poulin talks with a student during the food drive preparations at Dirigo Middle School on Thursday. The middle school along with Dirigo Elementary School and Dirigo High School combined their efforts to donate food to pantries in Dixfield, Canton, Carthage and Peru. (Marianne Hutchinson, Rumford Falls Times)

Dirigo Elementary School teacher Bethany Meehan-Poulin talks with a student during the food drive preparations at Dirigo Middle School on Thursday. The middle school along with Dirigo Elementary School and Dirigo High School combined their efforts to donate food to pantries in Dixfield, Canton, Carthage and Peru. (Marianne Hutchinson, Rumford Falls Times)

Dirigo Elementary School teacher Bethany Meehan-Poulin talks with a student during the food drive preparations at Dirigo Middle School on Thursday. The middle school along with Dirigo Elementary School and Dirigo High School combined their efforts to donate food to pantries in Dixfield, Canton, Carthage and Peru. (Marianne Hutchinson, Rumford Falls Times)

Dirigo Elementary School teacher Bethany Meehan-Poulin talks with a student during the food drive preparations at Dirigo Middle School on Thursday. The middle school along with Dirigo Elementary School and Dirigo High School combined their efforts to donate food to pantries in Dixfield, Canton, Carthage and Peru. (Marianne Hutchinson, Rumford Falls Times)