photo by: Shelley Hanson

Moundsville Middle School student Delilah Cox, left, and John Marshall High School student Kai Finney, right, present a $25,000 donation check on behalf of the Hayhurst Family Foundation to representatives of the Shepherd’s Pantry in Moundsville, Mary Tennant and Kara Rowe, on Monday.

MOUNDSVILLE — Marshall County Schools students’ innovative ideas landed them cash for their projects and also a $25,000 donation for the Shepherd’s Pantry in Moundsville.

Members of the WVU Extension Young Innovators teams from Moundsville Middle School and John Marshall High School on Monday presented a check for $25,000 on behalf of the Hayhurst Family Foundation to Shepherd’s Pantry representatives Mary Tennant and Kara Rowe.

The students recently participated in the Mountain State Innovators Summit at Stonewall Resort. Prizes for the competition were funded by the foundation.

Middle school students won first place for their pitch titled “My Hometown is Cool.” They won $3,500. This money will help fund their project, “Graffiti: Turning Vandalism Into Art,” that will involve the use of large panels that people can paint their own art or graffiti on. The panels will be located on a wall near the downtown structures that burned down last year in a fire.

The high school students received an honorable mention and $500 for their project, an artificial intelligence garbage can, also known as Smart Cycle, that would automatically sort trash from recyclables.

Rowe said the donation will be a big help to the pantry that feeds residents of the county on a weekly basis. The pantry helps about 200 families each month with food, clothing and linens. She said the money will help with its current programming. Both women expressed gratitude and amazement by the donation amount. They said the pantry also receives year-round support from local churches, businesses and individuals.

Rowe said programming also includes providing transportation to the pantry for some residents and others receive home deliveries.

“We help as many people as we can with as many things as we can,” Rowe said.

Both Moundsville Middle School student Delilah Cox and JMHS student Kai Finney said they were happy to learn about the foundation’s plan to donate $25,000 to the pantry.

“Even though we didn’t get to the goal we exactly wanted to, knowing our efforts are going to be helping that many people, it makes me feel a lot better about what we’re doing,” Finney said.

Cox said she was honored to be a part of helping people in her community. She was also “shocked” to learn that pantries in nine other counties would also be receiving the same donation from the foundation.

The Moundsville Middle School team included students Addie Billington, Hattie Brautigan, Luke Colby, Delilah Cox, Liberty Cuffaro, Bentley Dolin, Dalton Earnest, Emma Hill, Dominic Kennen, Lily Patrello, Cash Reilly, Roxanne Ungar, Garrett Wise, Kaysi Woods and Laylah Yoho.

The JMHS team included students Cooper Berlin, Uriah Dolin, Josh Elias, Kai Finney, Cam Hoyt, Trever McCarthy and Hanna Oliver.