As the holiday season approaches, Carlmont’s Associated Student Body (ASB) prepares for the annual food drive hosted on campus.
“[The food drive has been going on] as long as I’ve been here, 25 years, and probably before that as well,” ASB Supervisor Jim Kelly said.
The food drive is a long-held tradition at Carlmont that is meant to help families at the school and normally donate to local food banks.
“The food drive is annual, but it varies year to year,” said Delaney Paulus, a senior in the Do Something ASB commission. “It depends on if we’re able to do multiple food drives in a year.”
According to Paige Wellman, a senior in the Do Something commission, this year’s drive is different from the previous years Carlmont has held it.
“This year, we are planning on collecting gift cards instead of cans,” Wellman said. “[The gift cards] can provide families a way to buy directly what they need.”
The commission starts the process of organizing the drive by reaching out to teachers, telling them how to encourage students to donate, and the deadline for donating. Previously, stations for donating were set up in classrooms, and the class that contributed the most amount of cans would have a pizza party.
“[We donate food] mostly to Carlmont families in need, and then to Second Harvest Food Bank, but not this year,” Kelly said.
In previous years, ASB collected cans of food both for Carlmont families and Second Harvest Food Bank. However, Second Harvest Food Bank has not been an option for ASB in the last two years. According to Paulus, this is due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This year, we were not able to [work with Second Harvest Food Bank] because Second Harvest is not accepting any community donations, so our tentative plan is only to provide food for Carlmont families,” Paulus said. “[Second Harvest’s] policies have changed, and they’re no longer accepting food from anyone, only digital donations.”
Traditionally, ASB holds the food drive before the holidays to ensure families have food during the winter.
“The food drive usually lasts a few weeks before Thanksgiving,” Paulus said.
However, according to Wellman, this year’s food drive is also straying from tradition because ASB plans to extend the time that donations are open.
“We might have a specific list of foods that people can bring, but we are still working out the details,” Wellman said. “We want to have gift cards and food last through Christmas and possibly through the year.”
