Students at Highlands Elementary School are poised to help needy children in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. On Dec. 17, they will sort, measure and pack dehydrated meals, in partnership with ImpactLives, a global relief organization.

Last year, the 550 students at Highlands packed 70,980 meals, and raised nearly $10,000. This year they plan to beat those records. They will also learn about Haiti from guest speaker Lizzy Tuttle of Haiti Outreach.

"But just as exciting is that we train other schools in this service learning project," said second grade teacher Dan Baier, "This year we will host 120 seventh-graders from the FAIR School. Our hope is that they will, in turn, spread the program to other schools."

Students at Highlands will also spread the word through Twitter, the social networking site. As they pack meals and learn about the Dominican Republic, they'll be writing their thoughts in 140-character statements that will be posted at http://twitter.com/KidsServing.

"It's one of the most exciting things I can imagine," said principal Peter Hodne, "Our gym full of kids who are spending their day serving others."

The students, and dozens of teachers and parents, will spend the day packing meals that are a proprietary mix of nutritious protein, carbohydrates and vitamins. It can be easily shipped to impoverished places around the world and reconstituted with water.

Since the first food-packing day in 2005 in response to the East Asia tsunami, Highlands students have packed more than 205,000 meals.

"Having students, parents, teachers, and even local politicians work together to serve others reflects exactly what so many of us love about Highlands," said Stephanie Zahrbock, the parent co-coordinator of the event, "And my own children say it's one of the highlights of their year."

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