Every November the Parkland Thanksgiving food drive fills less fortunate students’ stomachs and caring donors’ hearts. Not all community members know who runs the food drive. Every fall, Ms. Morgan, a tenth-grade American Studies 2 teacher, and her students create the magic. It serves as a project in her class in which students market, coordinate collection sites, as well as collect and distribute the food. The project teaches students about the Progressive Era and reforms. The donations go to Parkland Reach (Holiday food collection) and Parkland Cares (general food collections). Ms Morgan stated, “A food drive is important because it raises awareness about hunger while directly addressing the basic needs of people in our community. It provides a simple yet impactful way to help those who may not know when their next meal will come.”
The classes start by creating advertisements for the Thanksgiving Food Drive. These advertisements range from posters to TikTok videos, anything to spread the word and get students at Parkland involved. Students have fun using their personality and creativity to market the food drive.
After plenty of promotions, the students build and place donation boxes in the rotunda and participating teachers’ rooms. This year the food drive donation dates were November 4th-15th. On the last collection date, Ms. Morgan’s students spend the class period working like Santa’s elves to collect the donations and sorting each food. “My hope is that they leave this project with a deeper understanding of the power of their actions and the confidence to advocate for causes that matter to them,” said Ms. Morgan.
It would be an understatement to say the food drive was successful this year. There were 1,688 items collected: 286 jars of peanut butter, 760 boxes of pasta, 162 jars of jelly, 229 boxes of cereal, 38 boxes of powdered milk, 143 jars of pasta sauce, and 70 miscellaneous donation items. The hard work of the community will provide meals to Parkland families who would otherwise go hungry through the Thanksgiving break. One of Ms. Morgan’s students, Madelyn Haupt (10) said, “The success of the food drive has been very rewarding. Finding out the food drive was so successful made me feel good because I was a part of something beneficial for my community.”
This food drive spreads positivity around the holiday season and teaches students the rewarding feeling of helping the community. It tightens the gigantic Parkland community and helps struggling families that hide in the shadows. Ms. Morgan said, “Parkland is sometimes perceived as a ‘wealthy’ district, but it’s important to recognize that our students come from diverse backgrounds and experiences, some of whom rely on school meals as their primary source of food.”
