Green beans, corn, raviolis and oranges. They all have one thing in common: you can find them in canned form. The Student Assembly is beginning their annual canned food drive and it will continue until tomorrow, the last day of school before winter break. The annual Can Drive is a huge donation of goods to people in need in the community. This year, senior Neal White has taken it as his senior project in collaboration with the Student Assembly.
The cans go directly to student families, specifically from elementary schools.
“The director reaches out to contact different schools and families that they think are in need,” White said.
They map out what houses they need to deliver the cans to, allowing them to accurately distribute the food to everyone.
“The maps that we use for collecting cans are already established,” White said. “It’s just that there’s add-ons of different houses, so we have to add those houses. There’s also different expansions of Columbus as well.”
Not every food is acceptable to give. Many foods perish before they are able to be distributed, or they won’t last long. White goes over the best choice of food to donate.
“Any non-perishable food,” White said. “Pasta is a common one people donate because it’s filling. Different baking mixes, and peanut butter is a fairly common one that’s also donated, which is also important because it’s a basic source of protein.”
This system has shown success in the past, and White strives for more.
“Last year we raised somewhere around $8,000,” White said. “I’d like to get to $9,000, and not long ago we got up to $10,000.”
Senior Noah Marsh describes his responsibilities and experience with the Can Drive. He has been a part of the Can Drive his entire high school career and more.
“My part in Can Drive for the past two, three years has been the attendance chair,” Marsh said. “I take care of some of the attendance policies we have for can drive.”
Volunteers are not an issue because of the Student Assembly. It’s the student assembly’s job to count and collect the cans.
“This is our big project that we work on for Student Assembly besides the dance, which this year was homecoming,” Marsh said. “This is the biggest project we do so we need all hands on deck with Student Assembly.”
For Assembly members, there is a reward that comes with volunteering their time for the Can Drive.
“The goal this year is 70 percent [attendance], or 20 days out of 28 days of can drive that we have,” Marsh said. “If you go to more than 20 days [of Can Drive collecting] you get to miss the last day of school before break and help sort cans. When we sort the cans we build forts and have fun with it. Then you will take those cans to different houses throughout the community. If you have 15 to 20 days you can only do the sorting, and if you do 15 and under you can’t do any of it.”
It’s mandatory for Student Assembly, but they make exceptions for people that have other activities they can’t ignore. People find themselves enjoying the experience.
“It’s a lot of fun, its the best part of Student Assembly every year,” White said. “People get to choose the groups they get to be in, so you’re not with random people. You get to go get the food with your friends, so you’re just spending a couple hours with friends every week.”
To participate in the collecting and distribution of the cans, you do have to be a part of Student Assembly. However, there are still ways to help.
“I definitely recommend people on Student Assembly or not to help,” Marsh said. “It’s a huge help for us if we can get more help with cans. It’s not just helping us, but helping BCSC families. To do the counting and the collection you have to be a part of the Student Assembly, but you can help by bringing in cans.”
