Amy Nicodemus is very proud of her students.

The Barrington High School teacher recently organized a food drive to benefit Tap-In, and was completely impressed with the effort put forth by her students. Boys and girls in her four chemistry classes donated more than 350 items — ranging from cans of food and boxes of pasta to socks and toiletries. Some even donated their birthday money to the local food pantry.

"This was the best they've ever done," she said.

Ms. Nicodemus has held the food drive for the past few years and offered students an incentive to get involved: The class that donated the most would received some baked goodies from their teacher. "I'm a pretty good baker," Ms. Nicodemus added. 

While the food drive does not necessarily align with the chemistry curriculum, it does offer an important lesson in civic duty, said Ms. Nicodemus. The high school teacher said she grew up in Newport and spent many days helping out at soup kitchens there. She said she organized the local food drive as a fun "challenge" among students in her classes. 

Ms. Nicodemus said she researched what items food pantries need the most and shared the list with students. The co-eds brought in 356 items in short time — the winning class donated about 160 items.

"I had kids who donated some of their birthday money," said Ms. Nicodemus, who has taught for 13 years. "They really got what was needed. This is the best they've ever done.

"I have a lot of kids with good hearts."

Ms. Nicodemus said she planned to make some homemade chocolate cupcakes for the winning class.

Still touching people in need

Tap-In — Touch A Person In Need — was formed in the early 1980s and has remained an all-volunteer organization since the beginning. Janet Dreier helped found Tap-In, which offers help to people in East Providence, Barrington, Warren and Bristol, and still spends time there each week. 

She said she was very impressed with the local students who participated in Ms. Nicodemus's food drive. 

"It's amazing," she said. "We always say we have many miracles here at Tap-In, and this is one of them.

"The reason Tap-In is so successful is because the people of Barrington donate so much. People here are so generous. "