Paly’s annual canned food drive, sponsored by the Youth Community Service (YCS) club, ended Friday.
In Focus, Paly’s broadcast TV show, contributed 3,642 lbs., more than any other fourth period class, according to YCS president junior Caterina Yuan. “The In Focus motivation was provided by the students themselves,” said Mike McNulty, In Focus advisor. “They decided early they wanted to lead the drive and organized the entire situation on their own.”
Second place went to Steve Foug’s US History class with 1,115 lbs., and third place to Jaclyn Edwards’ World History class with 586 lbs., according to Yuan. All the donations were sent directly to the Second Harvest Food Bank.
According to Yuan, the club had initially established a goal of 12,000 lbs. However, In Focus later raised the goal to 20,000 lbs. Although Paly achieved only about 70 percent of YCS’s goal, Yuan still considers the drive to be successful. “Even though we didn’t meet our goal, we still collected a lot of food this year. Eight-thousand, two hundred and ninety two pounds is still quite a bit of food,” Yuan said.
In comparison to past years, Yuan believes this year’s results are fairly decent. According to Yuan, Paly collected 10,291 lbs. in 2004, while in 2003, Paly only collected approximately 300 lbs. “We did a pretty good job this year, though not spectacular,” Yuan said. “Last year was a school record.”
In order for Paly to reach its goal next year, Yuan suggests more advertising in the form of posters and announcements. She also encourages more active teacher participation in order to motivate students. “How much a class donates really depends on the teacher and how much he or she cares about the cause,” Yuan said.
Looking ahead to future charity events, YCS is considering holding a book drive at the end of the year where students can donate their old books. The club is also considering holding a school-wide service day, an event Paly had a few years ago. Students would be able to take part in various community service events without having to arrange ahead of time.
Yuan believes that the reason why Paly didn’t achieve its goal was because organizers discouraged students from donating rice, a popular heavy item. However, Yuan believes that if both rice and other foods are encouraged, 12,000 lbs. is still an appropriate goal for next year.
“It’s really easy to forget that there are people in our area who don’t have enough to eat, and don’t have money to get nutritious foods,” Yuan said. “Students should remember that the food drive isn’t really about winning by buying the greatest number of bags of rice, but providing food for those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to.”