South Students Donate 13,200 Cans of Food

Members of the Student Association spent Friday sorting and counting dried and canned food donations submitted by students schoolwide. 

The organizers set a goal of 4,000 cans, junior and event chair Max Roeske said, noting last year's drive netted about 1,500 cans. This year the Student Association wanted to increase donations to have more of an impact, he said.

To drive donations, they offered some incentive. The person with the highest number of donations will win an iPad, which is being purchased this weekend with Student Association funds, Roeske and fellow chairman, senior Stu McKay.

Other prizes include lunch out for the teacher's whose classroom had the highest number of donations and pizza parties for the two classes with the most donations, they said.

The outcome far exceeded their expectations. Stacks and stacks of dry-stock foods and cans filled room 164 in South Friday. Some donations were overflowing from cardboard boxes. Bags littered the ground as they were emptied and the cans were stacked on the desks.

Senior David Harris said the kind of food they received the most of was Ramen Noodles. Several area stores, including multiple Kroger's, the Roseville Costco, Wal-Mart and Meijer had their shelves cleared--multiple times for the --of Ramen Noodles, he said.

The student body really got into the drive and competed not only classroom to classroom but also individually, they said.

One student, whose name has not yet been released, donated 1,700 cans alone, McKay said. On Tuesday during third period, members of the Student Association will present the student with the iPad as they perform a video announcement for the entire school.

The next highest donation from a single student was 1,200 cans, they said.

Advanced Placement Physics teacher Scott Brunner is the teacher whose classroom raised the most donations with 3,610 cans, they said.

Representatives from the Salvation Army came to the school Friday afternoon to gather the goods. Harris said they have to make a second trip to pick up the remainder of the donations because the truck they had Friday was not larger enough to hold all of the donations.

Student Association members counted the goods all day Friday. They eventually stopped counting before they were finished but estimate they had about 13,200 donations, Harris said.