The yearly canned food drive has begun, and students can turn in their canned food or non perishable items in the WAC lobby this week. Students are able to turn in a specific amount of food for extra credit points on their first semester exam, and the donations will be dispersed to several area food pantries.

Each designated day, students can turn in cans between 7:45 and 8:25 a.m. in the WAC lobby. Math teacher Mrs. Lisa Ford said, “(Students) will bring their cans to a table (where) math teachers will receive them, and students will fill out a form that has their name, math teacher name, and the number of cans (or money) they brought.” The cans will then be sorted and packaged by student council members.

The forms that are filled out will help allocate the proper amount of extra credit points to students. For 1% extra credit, students can give 20 cans or $10; for 2% they can give 35 cans or 15 cans and $10; for 3% they can give 50 cans or 30 cans and $10. To help make the process easier, Ford advised, “If you buy them in bulk, just leave them in the packaging. If you have loose cans, that’s absolutely fine, but it might help you if you have them in some kind of a box or bag to carry.” 

Students are asked to bring canned fruits or vegetables, canned meats, pasta dinners, and soup, or peanut butter, boxed mashed potatoes and boxed stuffing mix. Ford added, “We do accept limited amounts of boxed macaroni and cheese.” Ramen noodles, tomato paste or small cans of tomato sauce will not be accepted. “We remind people that we are feeding families,” Ford said, so students should bring nutritional, filling food.

Last year’s food drive took in over 19,000 cans and about $4,500. For this year, Ford said, “We hope that every student participates at some level. We know (that grocery prices) have gone up, but if students plan ahead, they don’t need to go out and purchase (all of the cans). Sometimes, you can go to your neighbors and say ‘hey, I’m doing a canned food drive at school, do you have any cans I could donate?’. Try to be creative and seek other avenues of getting donations.”

Ford said, “Don’t wait till the last day and minute to bring in your cans. Get it done early, follow the rules and thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping the people of our community.”

Additional details and rules about the food drive can be found in the Student Newsletter.