As the canning season picks up in pace, competition across M-A is on the rise. Representing clubs, sports, and classes, Bears are working hard to work their way up the canning leaderboard.
The Canned Food Drive (CFD), started by Coach Ben Parks, has been an annual tradition for 26 years. Starting at the beginning of November, Bears camp outside local grocery stores requesting monetary donations and canned goods from shoppers. When it comes time to turn in the goods, Bears choose which class, club, or sport they want to donate to. And when December rolls around, the groups with the most pounds of food win catered lunch, M-A merch, and a range of other dazzling prizes.
Sports
This year, the dance and cross country teams have dominated the leaderboard. The teams, motivated by prizes and the desire to do good for the community, work hard each week to increase their numbers.
“The Canned Food Drive, more than anything, is a way for the entire M-A community to give back to the underfed and the underprivileged,” dance team captain senior Micaela Rubinsky said.
The dance team, with a history of consistent winnings in the sports category, is excited for this canning season, but not just for its physical prizes. “It’s friendly competition. The purpose is to give back to your community and shed light on a problem that we can help solve, ” Rubinsky added.
Like the dance team, the cross country team has been pushing themselves to can. “At our end of the season meeting, we were like, ‘Hey, if we really want to reach this goal, we can do it,’” varsity runner junior Grant Bennitt said. He and his teammates spend multiple hours after school and over the weekend canning. “The whole team was really excited to do it,” Bennitt said.
Classes
Yearly class competitions have gained popularity throughout the years through teacher encouragement and rewards for their canning contributions. Teachers pave the way for high numbers of cans by offering extra credit points, note cards, and treats to students who show their canning skills. Additionally, at the end of the month when canning season comes to a close, the class with the most cans gets lunch catered to their classroom.
Government and AP World History teacher Ellen Jacobson encourages her fourth period class to donate as an alternative to their weekly current event assignment. She works hard to teach her students about local under fed families and is highly enthusiastic about giving back to the community.
“Being part of society is taking care of one another and the canned food drive is a wonderful opportunity for everybody to take care of everybody” she said.
Jacobson is heavily inspired by the founder of the long tradition of the CFD. “I’ve been here since Coach Parks was alive, [the drive] is very much part of M-A,” she said.
AP World History and Ethnic Studies teacher Marcus Kevorkyan’s fourth period class is striving this canning season. “It’s good to build values among community service when you’re young,” Kevorkyan said. His class, filled mostly with members of leadership and determined students, has been excellent at raising the numbers in his class without any prize at all. “I do not [have a prize]” Kevorkyan said. “They have been very strong at organizing all by themselves.”
Clubs
Similar to the classes and sports, clubs are in their own separate category. Whichever club collects the most pounds of food gets catered food of their choice. The Community Kindness club, devoted to service projects, raising money, and teacher appreciation, has been active in the canning game this year. “We are bringing people from our club together,” event planner sophomore Grace Grundy said.
Many members come together for club bonding outside of the clubs regular meetings. For their club, one particular store has been their go-to. “We’ve gone together to Trader Joe’s a bunch,” she said.
The Science Based Lifting Club, a club devoted to workouts that use scientific research, has been rising on the leaderboard. Co-founder junior Will Torre has been working his hardest to add up the pounds for his club as the canning season begins to wrap up. “Other than the fact that I’m helping out my community and that I’m contributing to the club, it’s just really fun to go out there with friends,” Torre said. “We just have fun while passing out flyers and collecting cans.”
Additionally, the Latinos Unidos en Menlo-Atherton (LUMA) club enjoys participating in the drive. “We have the older LUMA club members pick days that they want to go [canning] and then encourage the other younger members to participate,” LUMA advisor and Bilingual Resource teacher Maribel Maldonado said. “It’s one of the M-A traditions you just have to do.”
The competitive spirit across the sports, classes, and clubs on campus has helped the CFD steadily progress toward its goal of 300,000 pounds of food. At the end of the canning season, the winners will celebrate their victories and receive their prizes. To officially end the canning season, students will take part in Distribution Day on Saturday, Dec. 6 at Ecumenical Hunger in East Palo Alto.
