The Franklin County School went above and beyond this year as part of the Peanut Butter Challenge

The Franklin County School went above and beyond this year as part of the Peanut Butter Challenge.

Each year University of Florida/IFAS faculty from across Florida, in concert with the North Florida Peanut Producer’s Association, conduct the Peanut Butter Challenge where they collect peanut butter which is then given to food pantries across the state.

Franklin County ranks above the State average in the percent of residents experiencing food insecurity and households with an income below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level.

This year, Maddison Whitten, a senior at the Franklin County K-12 school, chose to use this opportunity as her Senior project to give back to the community.

Maddison, with the help of the FCHS National Honor Society school chapter, spread the word of local hunger and how to take a bite out of it by collecting peanut butter.

Collection boxes were placed in classrooms and around the FCS campus.

Friendly competition was encouraged with the incentive of a pizza party, with pizza donated by BJ’s Pizza for the class with the most peanut butter.

During the one-month collection period, the Franklin County School amassed over 800 jars of peanut butter, totaling 1,004 pounds.

Other collection sites, including the First Baptist Christian School, UF/IFAS Franklin Extension Office, Sportsman’s Lodge, 4-H Making Strides Club, and Gander’s Hardware gathered peanut butter as well.

All told, when the Extension office tallied all the county’s collections, it came to 952 jars of peanut butter totaling 1,178 pounds.

The Florida Peanut Producers Association pledged a matching donation to add to the county’s pot.

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