The early months of the school year are always quite busy for MTHS students–new schedules, homecoming, and all sorts of fundraisers. One of the most notable fundraisers that Terrace holds every school year is the Food Drive. This year, MTHS was able to raise more than 1,800 pounds of food in order to donate to the Mountlake Terrace (MLT) Food Bank. While all high schools in the Edmonds School District hold food drives around that time, Terrace is a huge part of the food bank’s winter supply.
“Having a good food drive can help those people in need when people don’t have much during the holidays and [in] fall/winter it’s freezing cold. We, as a school, are also the number one contributor to the food bank. The food bank says we give around 50% of all the food they have for that year!” Big 6 Public Relations Minh Pham said. In comparison to previous years, the count has stayed around the same. Last school year, students were able to donate over 4,000 pounds of food.
Throughout the Food Drive, students from different clubs and groups are able to go to the local grocery stores, Safeway and QFC, and promote the school’s food drive during different time slots throughout the week.
“So, what ASB has been doing is every Saturday we have shifts from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. standing outside of QFC–the one down the road from MTHS–with posters and getting donations from our community,” Pham said.
During the last week of the food drive, ASB was given the opportunity to collect donations from the community in more places and stores. In addition to this, Connect Crew had collected donations from PASS classes every Monday.
“ASB has also been reaching out to other places to collaborate for the food drive. We have gotten Fred Meyers, Mountlake Terrace Pavilion, Mountlake Terrace Church, and Trader Joe’s which we have this Friday.” Pham said.
With all of these frequent methods, students were already able to collect a high number of donations to the food bank. In past years, MTHS has brought in thousands of donations in both food and cash for the food bank. A few events that helped with donations were Spike the Drive and Jam Session! Jam Session alone brought in around 300 items, according to English and World History teacher, Christina Lewis. During all of these events, students were able to bring in food donations for the MLT Food Bank. Although MTHS has brought in tons of food in previous years, Pham is confident in the ability to provide even more this year.
“Most of our donations are actually in cash. We have around $5,000! To my knowledge, last year we had maybe around 4,000 pounds of food. But after we send in all the food in the HUB right now, I’m 100% sure that we will surpass that, and I’m pretty sure we will have more cash donations [this year]!” he said. By having the food drive in the months of November through December, the food bank is able to provide more food for families for the holiday season. The food drive donations go to both the food bank and low income families in the ESD.
“There are many benefits to having a successful food drive but the main reason why ASB has been trying to get our school community involved but also the Mountlake Terrace community involved is because our food drive is during the holidays like Thanksgiving.” Pham said.
Through every high school in the district, communities are able to give back and support those who need it the most.
