Throughout the Southland, students and community groups are working to help people who need it through food drives and other events.
District 218 students stay after school to help
In Oak Lawn, students from Richards High School brought donations for several weeks to their first period classes to support a food drive to benefit the pantry at Pilgrim Faith United Church in Oak Lawn.
Richards students stayed after school on the Friday before Thanksgiving to sort the donations. Students from Leo Club, Class Officers, National Honor Society, and Tri-M music honors partnered to organize the food drive.
At Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, as they have for decades, students who volunteer through the Leo Club helped organize a Thanksgiving food drive.
Along with faculty sponsor Amy Stevens, they stayed after school to sort and bag the donations. An organization devoted exclusively to service, Leo Club is the high school affiliate of Lions Clubs International.
Bremen students collect most food in 6 years
Bremen High School wrapped up its Annual Food Drive in November after collecting over 13,000 pounds of food. School officials said it was the largest collection in six years for the drive, which has been taking place annually since 1985.
The Food Drive is led by the school’s National Honor Society and Student Council, which distribute brown paper bags throughout the community and ask for donations of nonperishable goods. Then, they head out into the neighborhoods and collect the food for distribution to local pantries such as the ones at St. Christopher’s Catholic Church in Midlothian and St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Midlothian.
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More than 500 hours of service were contributed by students and staff. Their efforts, and the help of the community, resulted in over 13,000 pounds of food in donations.
While the traditional Food Drive was back in full swing this year, the school did choose to keep some new initiatives that developed during the pandemic which included the GoFundMe and their 2nd Stuff The Bus. Stuff the Bus, held on November 13th, kicked off the Food Drive and allowed residents to drop their donations off at the school as students and staff made a push to fill an entire school bus with food donations.
Frankfort students ‘pack the pantry’
The students and staff of Arbury Hills Elementary School in Frankfort participated in a Pack the Pantry food drive for the Frankfort Township Food Pantry. The effort included students who made schoolwide announcements and commercials to promote the food drive and helped load the food for delivery. The drive resulted in two SUVs full of food to share with others.
Chamber 57 distributes 300 Thanksgiving birds
Chamber 57, the Rich Township chamber of commerce, distributed 300 Thanksgiving chickens to community residents in Matteson and Park Forest in November at Victory Apostolic Church in Matteson and the Village of Park Forest Community Center.
They chose chickens because they are easier to cook than turkeys, group leaders said.
Shepard sets Breakfast with Santa
The National Honor Society from Shepard High School will sponsor its first Breakfast With Santa from 10 a.m. to noon Dec. 11 at the school in Palos Heights. Admission is $10 and includes a meal of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, coffee, juice and milk.
Those attending should park in the back of school, l13049 S. Ridgeland Ave., which is where the cafeteria is located.
Proceeds from the event will support the various charitable works of NHS.
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