The results are in: Paly students piled up 5,203 pounds of non-perishable goods during the annual canned food drive that ended Friday, Dec. 8.

Although the goal of the drive was for fourth period classes to raise 10,000 total pounds of canned goods, Youth Community Service Club president senior Caterina Yuan is still content with the weight of canned goods that were collected this year.

"In the end, it doesn’t matter if we reached our goal of 10,000 pounds or not," Yuan said. "We still collected a lot food for the hungry people in our area, and that’s what really matters."

During last year’s canned food drive, Paly students contributed over 8,300 pounds of canned goods to the Second Harvest Food Bank of San Mateo and Santa Clara, according to Yuan. Mike McNulty and the InFocus staff came in a solid first place, contributing more than 3,600 pounds to the drive. Social Studies teacher Steve Foug came in second with 1,115 pounds, while Social Studies teacher Jaclyn Edwards came in third with 586 pounds, according to Yuan.

In this year’s canned food drive, Kay Van Der Burg’s fourth period AP English class came out strong to win a surprising first place, donating a total of 2,266.5 pounds of canned goods, according to Yuan. Van Der Burg will receive a car wash, while her fourth period students will receive pizza and ice cream as prizes.

Returning victors McNulty and Edwards received second and third place, respectively, in the drive this year. McNulty and the InFocus staff donated 1,277 total pounds of contributions, while Edwards provided a total of 460 pounds to the drive, Yuan said.

Following Edwards in weight of canned goods donated was Social Studies teacher Adam Yonkers with a total of 101.5 pounds, math teacher Charlotte Harris with 98 total pounds, and Social Studies teacher David Rapaport with 85.5 pounds, according to Yuan.

In total, 36 fourth period classes out of around 60 fourth period classes at Paly participated in the food drive this year, according to Yaun.

Also, while Van Der Burg’s win was achieved with contributions of large bags of rice, Edwards’ 460 pounds were achieved with donations of only canned vegetables and soup, according to Yuan.

Yuan considers it amazing that, during this year’s food drive, all of the fourth period classes in the social studies department contributed non-perishable goods to the cause.

"Paly did well as a whole in the food drive," Yuan said of the Paly student involvement in the drive this year. "I’d really like to thank all the classes that participated. They did an awesome job!"

Though the goal of 10,000 total pounds of donated canned goods was not fulfilled this year, Yuan believes that any amount of donations is still important to benefit the community.

"When you contribute to the food drive, you’re helping hungry people in our area," Yuan said. "If you just bring one can, it’s still a contribution!"