Every month (save for summer) for the past four years, students at Pointers Run Elementary School and Clarksville Middle School have delivered food to needy senior citizens at the Morningside Park Apartments in Jessup.

Now in its fifth year, the delivery program, "Food on the 15th," is hoping to expand.

As the name of the program suggests, the food is usually delivered by students and parent volunteers on the 15th of each month. Everything from cereal to toothpaste to Weis grocery store gift cards is included in the students' deliveries to 45 residents at the apartment complex.

Evan Monthie, a fifth-grader at Pointers Run, summed up his experience with the program as simply "being nice."

Parent Julie Rosenthal founded the program while her daughter was in fifth grade at Pointers Run. When her daughter entered Clarksville Middle, the food delivery program was extended to involve students from both schools, which are situated across the street from one another.

"I started the program because my daughter did not understand that there were people that were hungry in Howard County," Rosenthal said.

Having worked with low-income senior citizens in the past, Rosenthal said she thought helping seniors with groceries would be a worthy cause.

Expanding the program will take several steps, according to Rosenthal. In the near future, she hopes to enlist the support of local restaurants, among other initiatives. Beyond that, she hopes the program will become a model for other schools on the county level and beyond.

The students' efforts are well-received by the seniors, she said.

"I had one gentleman tell me that 'every month it's just like Christmas,' " Rosenthal said.

James Laukzemis, an eighth-grader who participated in the program last year, recalled the gratitude he and other students received from the seniors.

"They were always saying 'thank you' and 'God bless you,' " he said. "I saw how grateful that these people were. It made me feel good."

Morningside resident Clara McLean, 72, said she appreciates the way students cater the groceries to each resident's needs. She cares for her brother James Liles, who has throat cancer and has trouble eating certain foods.

"There's a lot of stuff that he can't eat," she said. "They try to give him soft foods."

Parent Kelly Mason, coordinator of the program at Pointers Run, said elementary students regularly collect nonperishable items for the deliveries, while middle school students collect food for diabetics and toiletries.

During the summer months, New Hope Adventist Church in Fulton (the church of a Clarksville parent) takes over the deliveries.

For information on how to donate, e-mail Rosenthal at jrosenthl@yahoo.com.

* The following Howard County students were named as semifinalists in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program, a competition that has students vying for 8,200 scholarships worth more than $36 million to be distributed in the spring: Mrunali Das, David Duan, Samuel D. Engel, Cara E. Fisher, Emily I. Gerry, Emmet Jao, Daniel Li, Owen Lu, Anne T. Park, Stephanie L. Porter, Jonathan J. Reyes, Nicholas L. Stowe, all of River Hill High School; Tanya P. Kumar, of Atholton High School; Alden D. Grobicki, of Long Reach High School; Arielle S. Miller, of Wilde Lake High School; Katherine S. Chen, Ruth E. Choa, Miriam R. Farkas, Jennifer M. Hoon-Starr, Jeffrey Huang, Shuochen Huang, Kara E. Kittel, Daniel X. Kong, Mulong Li, Lan Mei, Ioan D. Negulescu, Farhan Shah, Melinda Wang, Christina S. Wu, April Zhu, all of Centennial High School; Emily R. Sandford, of Glenelg Country School; Steven E. Southall, who is home-schooled; Kelsey Stokes and Celia M. Studt, of Howard High School; Rebecca Yep, of Mt. Hebron High School; Kevin F. Li and Jennifer Schiller, of Reservoir High School; Joseph F. Avolio and Daniel B. Zhao, of Glenelg High School; and Yebo Fu, Andre M. Morlaes and Kevin W. Shen, of Marriotts Ridge High School. Winners will be announced between April and June 2010.

* Prepare for Success is seeking donations to equip needy students with school supplies. The seven-year-old organization is a community-wide partnership of county agencies, PTAs, nonprofits, businesses, faith and civic groups, foundations and individual citizens working together with the Howard County Public School System. A new backpack and supplies can be purchased at $12.50 per student. Go to www.kitsforkidz.org/prepareforsuccess for more information, or to send a donation, make checks payable to "Community Action Council/Prepare for Success" and send it to: Prepare for Success, 6800 Oakland Mills Road, Columbia, MD 21045.

Send school-related items to School Days, Flier/Times, 10750 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia, MD 21044. Fax items to 410-997-4564 or e-mail mroshan@patuxent.com.

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