While many of their classmates were enjoying the benefit of a three-hour early dismissal Monday, Nov. 21, a group of Centennial High School students remained at the Ellicott City school, sorting canned goods and packing bags of Thanksgiving food for families in need.
The school's Salvation Army Club, in partnership with the locally-based Centennial CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), has spent the last few weeks collecting cans as part of a November food drive. The food will be delivered to 11 families — ranging in size from three to 12 members — in the Centennial community.
"It's like the motto says: 'Doing the most good,'" said club co-president Grace Cha, a junior. "This focuses on the local community, so you know it's helping someone who lives around me, that I could know. Here, you know you're helping someone in need, your neighbor, or a classmate."
The club, which has about 50 members, has been holding a November canned food drive for the past three years. But this year's has been the most successful, according to club sponsor Kristin Shipp.
Since the food drive lasts the entire month, the donations to the 11 families is more of a "drive within a drive," Shipp said. The families will receive Thanksgiving-themed food, and the rest will go to a local food bank. Cha estimated the group could collect 2,000 cans by the end of the month.
The students orchestrating the drive are very compassionate, Shipp said, and realize that there are students in the community that may not have food on the table for Thanksgiving.
"This year's group of kids, they genuinely want to help, and when they heard the possibility of helping families actually in the county, they were very excited," Shipp said. "They've been so responsible and responsive. It's been a student-led effort."
Cha's co-president, Isabel Yu, said working to help other students was the most rewarding part of being in the club.
In partnering with Centennial CSA, the Salvation Army Club is helping to provide fresh food for families. This is the first year the CSA has been involved in the club's November drive, said Bonnie Sorak, CSA volunteer coordinator and Centennial PTSA president. Through a partnership with Zahradka Farms in Essex, the CSA is able to donate one share of produce for every 15 shares sold through the CSA program. Families are identified by school counselors at Centennial Lane Elementary School, Burleigh Manor Middle School and Centennial, Sorak said.
"On a rotating basis, we provide fresh fruits and vegetables to them throughout the 26-week season," she said. "We're coming from standpoint of health, and fresh food is really the best food ... bolstering families up with nutritious food is going to help them in all kinds of ways."
The canned food drive is part of an overall learning process for the students, Shipp said, who hopes the students understand that the need faced by the families is a year-round one.
"I'm glad they're cognizant of the fact that while they're enjoying Thanksgiving, there are families who are not able to enjoy it to the fullest," she said. "Hopefully, they'll realize that it's an every day thing for these families. That's the end-goal."
The end-goal is something already being realized by students like Yu, who said the club lets her and other students use their time more meaningfully, as opposed to just doing things for themselves.
"You know that other people's lives will be a bit better because of you," said Yu, 17, a senior. "That gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling."
That feeling was what prompted Yu to get involved in the first place, she said.
"If we have these things, why not give it to those who don't?" she said. "They don't deserve to be in that state, so why not help them?"