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Every November, for over 30 years, West Linn High School has hosted a canned food drive to help the community fight food insecurity. Each year, there is a goal students and staff aspire to accomplish, always more than the previous year.
For three weeks, people bring canned food, pastas, and other non-perishable items to give to the various food pantries and families associated with the drive. Five cans can feed one family, and last year, the school collected 6,817 cans. According to the Oregon Food Bank, one in eight people and one in six children in Oregon and Southwest Washington face food insecurity.
Donating canned food can make a significant impact helping to feed families in communities. Katie Crim, junior, contributed to the donation of canned food.
“A lot of people don’t have food or can’t afford it for the holidays. I’m really hoping that this Thanksgiving and even after that, people will be able to have a really good meal,” Crim said.
Students across grade levels compete to donate the most cans. The top three Life classes that donate get rewards; first place gets to choose between a pizza party, ice cream, or candy. This encourages students to continue donating and working towards reaching the goal.
Staff also play a role in encouraging students to continue contributing to the cause. Amber Winter, English teacher, motivates her life class students to donate to the canned food drive.
“[The canned food drive] represents an overall sense of compassion and community because you are supporting those around you, and the more we can support people in our community, the better off we all will be,” Winter said.
This kind of support and encouragement inspires students to stay involved because it opens opportunities for them to make positive impacts on their community. Laynie Moore, junior, is the eleventh-grade officer on the Associated Student Body (ASB).
“There are people here at West Linn who really do rely on the cans that we bring in,” Moore said. “Just knowing that it helps people I go to school with every day to have a Thanksgiving dinner is really impactful.”
In the end, the school collected almost as many cans as last year. In previous years the school has collected up to ten thousand cans and will continue to try and meet the previous marks. The cans collected this year are extremely helpful and carry a big impact. This year the cans will be distributed to food pantries in Clackamas and West Linn as well as go to twelve West Linn lion families. Though this year’s canned food drive is over, you can still donate canned food and other items to help those in need. Some local organizations accepting food donations are the West Linn Food Pantry, Oregon Food Bank, Crossroads Food Bank, and many more. Together we can fight against food insecurity in our community.
