What Would You Do with 100,000 Pop-Tarts? This Teacher Knows

Were you to line up 100,000 Pop-Tarts end to end, you’d create a 9.5-mile toaster pastry trail that would start at Plainfield Village Hall and end at the Rialto Square Theatre in downtown Joliet.

More practically speaking, it's enough to fill 48 pallets in a semi-truck.

And that's exactly what's going to be delivered to Creekside Elementary School at around 4 p.m. Tuesday. Teacher Jeff Peterson, winner of Kellogg's Pop-It Forward Contest, will take receipt of his 100,000 Pop-Tarts prize.

Peterson founded and oversees the Creekside Cares backpack food program, which every week fills backpacks full of nonperishable food items and toiletries for 85 to 93 students in need at his school, Lakewood Falls and Thomas Jefferson elementary schools, Timber Ridge and John F. Kennedy middle schools and Plainfield North High School.

Peterson, a physical education teacher, has become an expert at grant writing and finding other sources of funding and food for the program. It was a no-brainer, he said, to write the short essay needed to enter the “What would you do with 1,000 Pop-Tarts?” contest.

Finalists received votes on the company’s Facebook site, and Peterson rallied the troops at school to cast their ballots.

“I signed up hoping for 1,000, and I received 100,000,” he said.

Of course, where to store that many boxes while distributing them to students as needed was the bit of a dilemma, he said. Kellogg’s solved the problem by agreeing to store them at their Battle Creek, Mich., manufacturing plant and bringing down shipments as Peterson requires them.

The semi bringing them to Michigan will swing by Creekside, 13909 Budler Road, to make the first delivery on Tuesday. Kellogg’s officials will be on hand to make the formal presentation and to shoot a video, Peterson said.

He’s not certain how long it will take to distribute the boxes to needy families in the area. He’ll also be sharing the bounty with the Plainfield Interfaith and Green Harvest food pantries because the Pop-Tarts have an Oct. 31 expiration date, he said.

Peterson, who’s married and has two children ages 5 and  9 months, said events like this make it easier for him to fulfill his dream of expanding the backpack program to every school in Plainfield School District 202 that doesn’t already have a way to supplement families in need. No child should go hungry simply because his or her parents have fallen on hard times, he said.  

“I’m very fortunate that I have wonderful colleagues who really step up and help in any way they can,” he said. “Parent volunteers have been awesome, and there are local churches that are starting to help.”

As for the need, it’s greater than you might imagine, despite the wealth in Plainfield, Peterson said. Just one parent losing a job can change a family’s fortunes very quickly, he said.

“You can look at a house and it looks nice, but it can be totally bare on the inside,” he said. “Out here the taxes are just astronomical. People are paying $9,000, $10,000 a year, and that’s on top of the monthly mortgage and all of their other bills.”

The program is done on the honor system, Peterson said. They don’t have the means or the desire to check the veracity of people’s stories, and if anything, he fears that pride may keep some from taking advantage of it.

And what he’s found is that those who have benefitted often come back to help later, he said.

“There’s a real need for this,” Peterson said. “We hope they’ll pass it forward to someone else.”

If you want to donate nonperishable food and personal care items to Creekside Cares, drop them off during regular school hours. If you have food that needs to be picked up, call Peterson at 815-577-4718 or send him an e-mail at jpeterso@psd202.org. If you want to make a financial donation, make your check out to Creekside Cares and mail it to Creekside Elementary School, 13909 Budler Road, Plainfield, 60544.