Food Drive unites district

Seniors Avery Straw and Sami Zapitul check the expiration dates before boxing donations from third period classes, and, at right, senior Noor Afzal greets another visitor at the trunk or treat event on Sunday, Oct. 27.

From Oct. 7 to Nov. 8 the Cedar Falls High School holds a food drive. During this time the whole Cedar Falls School District is welcome to join in on the festivities and host their own activities as well. As of Tuesday, Nov. 5,  the food drive at CFHS has raised $476 from powder puff volleyball, $221 from Chick-fil-A, $349 from Trunk or Treat and $1300 from third hour challenge.

Although Student Senate is in charge of coordinating the whole food drive, senior leadership, junior leadership and sophomore leadership lead activities as well. This year the groups had bake sales, third hour challenge, Trunk or Treat, a volleyball tournament and Chick-fil-A fundraiser.

Many events occur during the food, but  Julie Cuvelier, business education teacher and senior leadership coordinator, said her favorite part is the fundamental aspects..

“I just like the part where it’s the physical work where we go down and box the food and stack the food and prepare it for the people, so we check the expiration dates and get it ready for them,” Cuvelier said.

Cuvelier also said she thinks the Trunk or Treat is a great event. “Trunk or Treat is organized by student senate, and it’s amazing to me that so many different groups can be invited to that, and then they come that day, and it all comes together as an event, so I really like to see that event come together,” she said.

By donating $1 to the food drive, one will provide a hungry person with four meals, or a family of four dinner. Alternatively, one point two pounds of food is equal to one meal. For senior Lilian Schmid, who is part of student senate and senior leadership, this is her favorite part.

“My favorite part of the food drive is the idea of helping people,” Schmid said. “In Student Senate we had the people from the food drive come to a meeting,  and they told us all the important things that the money that we raised did. Knowing that really motivates me to give food and money for a cause. The idea that I’m helping out kids who are hungry or families that are hungry really excites me. Also, I think it brings a lot of the students together, knowing that we’re doing something good.”

Sophomore Molly Boevers, a member of sophomore leadership and student senate, said she wanted to help out around the school, so she joined sophomore leadership.

Cuvelier said she is seeing the efforts of students like Boevers throughout the food drive. “Some people  step up and say, ‘I want to be the one that boxes,’ ‘I want to be the one that grabs the food,’ and they do it on their spare time. It’s not a part of class. It’s over power hour or pushing for after school hours. That’s probably the most amazing thing I see happen,” she said.

Schmid said there is no small donation for this event. “Students are doing things to help people when they don’t even know it, like buying a Chick-fil-A sandwich during lunch or buying food from the bake sale or buying cinnamon rolls from the Tigers Den. There are little things that students do that add up to a lot of money that we can give to help people in need,” she said.

Currently there are 43,430 people in Northeast Iowa who are food insecure. Through this event, Boevers said she internalized this number. “I think it’s important because it is surprising how many people are food insecure.”

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