By MIA LENZI – Each year, the IHS drama club participates in the Trick-or-Treat So Kids Can Eat canned food drive, but this year they expanded their horizons to include other clubs as well. The Drama Club and Me to We Club teamed up for the first year ever to benefit the TOTS food drive.
Students volunteered to go classroom-to-classroom and house-to-house in order to collect as many non-perishable foods as possible. In the process, students enjoyed a week of dress-up and friendly competition.
Senior Me to We Club leader Emily Harris comments, “Me to We loves to team up with as many organizations as possible to get the word out and make a difference. For this event, we were very fortunate to have been able to work with the Drama Club. Together, I know we made a difference!”
Orange bags with the TOTS logo were placed in each homeroom for students place their canned foods in. Throughout the week, students were encouraged to bring in a canned food in exchange for participation in the spirit dress up week. “Our goal was to increase student body participation in the food drive and increase our partnership with other clubs. Along with Me to We Club, also got the chance to work with Key Club by providing them a way to earn hours, we appreciate their willingness to help us collect bags each day from the different homerooms,” says senior Drama Club treasurer Sydney Shearer.
Another way the clubs encouraged students to participate was by holding a little competition. Both a 10th-period class and an individual student were named winners. Mr. Nath’s 10th period won goody bags and gift cards to the Six Hand Bakery for bringing in the most goods, and Senior Macey Phillips won a free yearbook as congratulations for contributing the most canned goods.
The total amount of goods collected in the school drive was 488 cans, which exceeds the Me to We Club’s goal of 200-300 canned goods.
Finally, the activity that brings in the majority of the goods is the actual trick-or-treating. Many drama club students volunteered to go door to door and trick-or-treat for canned goods instead of candy. The total amount of goods collected from trick or treating are still being calculated by the Drama Club. In the end, all food was donated to ICCAP and the Zion Lutheran Food Pantry.
This program is not only beneficial to the individuals receiving the food but the participants in collecting the food as well. Senior Maeve Morris says, “TOTS has been a learning experience for me. I never realized how much school and community collections helped people in need. For the drama department as a whole, I believe TOTS brings us together, uniting us under a common goal to help the less fortunate.”
A sincere thank you goes out to all who participated in the effort to make a difference.
[Photo courtesy of Drama Club]
Photo Caption: “Drama Club members work hard to sort and count the food collected during school.”
