Students at Ellis Middle School recently participated in a service project to collect toys and items for the Children’s Hospital of Minnesota.

While the project ran for two weeks in December and resulted in over 640 items donated, the start of the project began back in October with Ellis’ All-School Read novel.

The novel this year, “Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie” by Jordan Sonnenblick, was read to students during their homeroom time. It focuses on the life of a middle school child whose younger brother is fighting cancer.

This book helped students become more compassionate to others and inspired the service project. The items were delivered to the Children’s Hospital of Minnesota on Dec. 19. Kristi Kreun and Julie Walski are the lead teachers of this project.