Charity Organization Participates in Thanksgiving Food Drive
Navya Kaur & Shruthi Kumar
Staff Writers
As Thanksgiving Day approached, American High School’s Key Club made plans to participate in the Kiwanis Turkey Drive, executed by high school representatives on Saturday, November 23, 2013. Volunteers stood outside the doors of the Safeway at the Fremont Hub and passed out flyers that contained information about the drive.
Chloris Li, president of the Key Club at American, decided to take part in the Turkey Drive event, because she felt it was important to help the community on a special occasion.
“This club is like charity and when I heard of this event I thought, why not do something for people on Thanksgiving?” junior Li said.
American High School students, working alongside Washington High School students, spent a day encouraging people to donate food to several different organizations, such as the Salvation Army in Lodi.
Customers had the option of donating any food item of their choice or purchasing a pre-filled bag at the counter for ten dollars. Those who preferred buying individual foods were given a small reference list of non-perishable foods as suggestions. At the end of the day, over ten carts were filled with the pre-filled packages, not to mention additional shopping carts of individual food items.
Kiwanis, a worldwide non-profit organization that sponsors high school Key Clubs, has held this event every year, which inspired American High School’s Key Club to also join in on the tradition.
“I wanted to help out and give back to the needy,” senior volunteer Roger Lee said. “Every Thanksgiving we get so much food that we don’t use. Instead, we can give [the excess food] to people in need.”
The Turkey Drive was an opportunity for students to receive volunteer hours. Students had the opportunity to work as long as they wanted and were required to encourage people to support needy families in the spirit of the holiday and purchase foods that would eventually reach the designated food banks by Thanksgiving Day.
The members of Kiwanis aimed to surpass the previous year’s record of 4,483 served meals; they wanted to help as many people as possible this holiday season.
“This is a really good cause,” freshman Jessica Au said. “The number of meals served last year was a huge accomplishment. It was a long day, but we really hope we will beat that record this year.”
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