Photographed by Ishy Mishra
It’s that time of year again: the M-A Canned Food Drive (CFD)! Every year, Leadership students set a schoolwide goal and grades compete to collect the most pounds of canned food. Last year, M-A broke its 300,000 lb goal by raising a whopping 382,432 lbs. This year, with a 350,000 lb goal, Leadership is counting on students to exceed the target once again.
Senior and Leadership student Nina Kerr explained, “I think expectations are higher. Our goal is less than what we got last year, but I think that the expectation is that we’re going to break what we got last year too.”
Canning is both a great way to serve your community and a fun activity to do with friends. By signing up on B-21’s canning wall, students can choose a date, time, and place to go canning with friends. Sophomore Tessa Goldman shared why she goes canning: “I like being able to spend time with friends while helping out the community, and I’m excited to go again this year.”
When canning, you can collect both cans and monetary donations. To drop off cans, bring them to the back of the parking lot on Ringwood Ave. and Middlefield Ave. before school. You can choose to count your cans towards your 4th period class, a sports team, or a school club.
Each 4th period sets a class goal, and the class that collects the most cans will get a catered lunch. Similarly, the club and sports team with the most cans will also receive a prize. In addition, every two weeks, one student who went canning is randomly selected to get a Leadership-designed CFD shirt.
If you can’t go canning, there are many other opportunities to give back. This year, Amici’s will give 25% of their profit from M-A students who dine there on Tuesday, November 8th to the CFD. Online donations are also available and a great way to get friends and family to participate. You can also bring cash (one dollar = four cans), checks, and cans to help your 4th period class reach its goal.
The CFD concludes with one last hurrah: Distribution Day (D-Day). On D-Day, M-A takes all their donations to Ecumenical Hunger in East Palo Alto to give to the community. Students and staff come together to organize all the food and donations they collected and distribute them to people and families in need. This year, D-Day will be on December 10th from 9am to 12pm (2411 Pulgas Avenue East Palo Alto, CA).
Sophomore and Leadership student Avary Sheldon said, “I think D-Day in general is talked about a lot because there’s just so many people and I think it’s when everyone gets to see the real impact they’re making.”
The Canned Food Drive is a heartwarming M-A tradition that helps bring the community together. To track M-A’s progress, check out Leadership’s CFD page or the M-A Chronicle’s very own CFD tracker on our main page!
