San Benito High School’s annual Canned Food Drive to benefit Community Food Bank of San Benito County brought in 4,694 items, which will be donated to the organization that provides food, nutritional education and advocacy for locals in need.
Activities Director Catalina Lemos, who organized the effort along with Associated Student Body students, said she is “so proud of our students and staff that were able to participate. I know this will greatly help our community this holiday season.”
For the past few weeks, teachers volunteered to place food donation barrels in their classroom to encourage students to donate food, if they could.
The nearly 4,700 items collected is more than double the 2,023 brought in last year. Since 1993, San Benito High School students, faculty and staff have donated nearly 12,000 canned food and other shelf-stable items to the canned food drive, which typically occurs in the weeks surrounding Thanksgiving.
In addition to the 11 ASB students and three maintenance staff members who helped pick up the barrels full of donations from classrooms on Monday, Dec. 2, Ellie Burley’s Life Skills classes counted the items.
Science teacher Keith Gonzales’ classroom brought in the most food items, with 2,236 cans. In an email to staff, Lemos thanked the teachers who participated and reminded the campus that their “generous donation will really be appreciated by those in need in our community.”
