Collecting cans council edition
A behind the scenes look at the NPHS canned food drive
November 22, 2019
Senior Savanna States carries cans into the dawg pound at the canned food drive on Nov. 15. The seniors had a point total of 46,819. “You don’t even know who that person is that your helping but you are brightening their day by giving them something to eat,” said States.
“It’s such a big day for all of us, and we all take on huge roles in the day,” said senior Savanna States. The North Platte High School student council hosted a canned food drive on Nov. 15 to collect cans and donate to local food pantries.
During the last week’s canned food drive, NPHS students brought in cans and money to donate. It was brought to their bulldog time classes with different items having different point totals. However, the donations from the student body are only a small part of the canned food drive.
The NPHS student council representatives host the drive every year. They bring in most of the points collected for the canned food drive. It is not just done in a day, but over the whole week. States said, “As an individual, I ask as many people as I can for donations of cash or checks.” There were over $5,000 brought in by student council through donations.
Senior Ciera Carlson counts cans at the canned food drive for the senior point total. The seniors had a total of 46,819 points. “I think it’s cool to see how big of an impact high schoolers can make,” Carlson said.
The last morning of the drive, student council spends the morning collecting cans from classrooms and separating them into freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior categories. The cans collected and point totals for each grade are counted throughout the day. The seniors set the bar high for the following classes to surpass. “We try to help every underclassmen that we can, so they can keep on bringing in this giant amount each year after we’ve left,” said States.
The afternoon of the canned food drive is the busiest time. All of the donations that are given are picked up and pallets of cans are bought to the dawg pound by the seniors. They parade around the school with trucks
full of cans and bring them back to the school to be sorted and distributed to the local food pantries. When the day is over, States said, “We all feel super accomplished.”
The student council seniors take on a big role in the canned food drive. They bring in a large portion of the donations from the community as well. With the money donated, they buy pallets of cans from
Sophomore Cy Wagner counts cans for his class at the canned food drive on Nov. 15. The sophomore class was 413 points over their goal. Wagner said, ” The canned food drive is a great opportunity for NPHS to do something good for our community.”
Gary’s Super Foods to donate. The senior class brought in 44% of the total points from the whole school. All of the donations go to the Grace Ministries food pantry and St. Patrick’s food pantry.
States said the students feel a lot of pride at the end of the day. “Us high schoolers can actually make a difference,” she said.
