My Grandma Ferguson Collecting Soup Labels for Me
by Thomas Clayton Ferguson III

When I was back in elementary school, the school took part in the Campbell's Soup "Labels for Education" program. You collected labels off of Campbell's Soup Cans and took them to school. There was a large barrel in each classroom where you put the labels in.  Campbell's gave the school things like books, computers, etc. for the labels.  It was a great program and one that is still going great today.

My school started the program when I was in fourth grade.  To help get students to bring in labels, the school held a contest each year.  The classroom that collected the most labels during the year got a pizza, popcorn and soda party the last week of the school year.

My Grandma (Ethel Ferguson) worked at the Wesley House in Houghton Michigan.  The Wesley House was a Christian boarding house for college students attending Michigan Tech and Suomi College.  She lived there and worked as a cook for Wesley House.  When I told my Grandma about collecting the labels for school, she started collecting the labels for me.  The house had room for up to 150 students to live there, so they went through a lot of food.  So every time we went to visit her, I would leave with two or three large trash bags full of labels.

So thanks to my Grandma's help, I had got a pizza, popcorn and soda party with my classmates at the the end of fourth and fifth grade.  And of course, my school got learning materials for our school for all those labels my Grandma collected for me.

But the coolest thing about it is, everytime I look at a red Campbell's Label today, it brings back a memories of my Grandma Ferguson and her collecting the labels for me.