Students at 3 Litchfield schools 'compete' in annual food drive

November 21, 2008

NH Business Review Staff,

LITCHFIELD – The younger kids got off to a great start and took an early advantage, but as the week wore on, their older counterparts came to life and began chipping away at the lead.

This isn’t a multi-age sprint through the woods, up the knolls and down the dales of town, however – it’s a weeklong collection marathon that’s expected to result in an impressive mountain of nonperishable food, personal hygiene items, and cleaning products that will be distributed to local people and families in need this holiday season.

Coordinated by the Campbell High School student council, the annual Make-A-Difference Food Drive, as it’s called, has a new twist this year, its ninth. Instead of being held in conjunction with Hudson schools, this year’s drive is taking place entirely within Litchfield and involves all students in the town’s three schools.

The change was made after the Hudson district’s decision to discontinue participating in the drive, which had been coordinated by local Knights of Columbus, said Shawn McDonough, Campbell student council adviser.

“We got together and brainstormed, and came up with this idea,” student council President Mike Clark said. “It was a group idea.”

When all is said and done – which will be after school today – the bounty will be donated to the food pantry at Litchfield Presbyterian Church, where volunteers have noticed a sizeable increase in applicants over last year, coordinator Linda Peeples said.

“This project will be a big help for us,” she said. “We’ll probably give out a lot of the food during the holidays, and the paper goods, the personal items that they collect can help keep us stocked during the year.”

Peeples also said she’s been busy making angels, which serve as vouchers that are given to volunteers of all ages who shop for holiday gifts for applicants, whose ages and genders are listed on the vouchers. “We had around 50 last year, but we’re up to 66 so far this year,” Peeples said.

As for the schools’ food and personal essentials drive, the new format has spawned quite a rivalry between the three, Clark said. “It’s turned into a pretty intense competition,” he said.

“Yeah, mostly between the principals,” added McDonough with a laugh.

An expanded committee of representatives from each school was culled together, then split into subcommittees, to run the event, council secretary Ali Lajoie said.

“Everyone has different jobs . . . for instance, the advertising committee made all the posters and put them up . . . one is called the counting committee, which lists each day’s donations and puts them on a spread sheet,” Lajoie said.

Each day this week, students bring what they’ve collected to their respective schools, where the goods are stored until high school committee members, using time from their advisory periods, drive to Griffin Memorial and Litchfield Middle schools and return with the day’s loot.

On Tuesday, drive volunteers had gathered after school in McDonough’s room when a call came in from Griffin. “They got 605 more (items) just today,” the call taker said. “They’ve (collected) over 1,000 now, and it’s only Tuesday.”

Besides the friendly competition with their junior counterparts, Campbell’s student council members also have one eye on another little contest: To see if this project earns them the right to pry the N.H. Association of Student Councils’ annual Help Hungry Kids award from the fingers of defending champion Goffstown High.

“They’ve gotten it year after year after year,” Lajoie said.

“I want to see that plaque on our wall this year,” Clark added.

Inevitably, a drive of such magnitude produces the occasional item that’s past its expiration date, or one that may appear, simply by virtue of its label, intended for a very narrow niche of consumers. Council treasurer Andrew Cialek recalls one that fit both categories.

“It was this can of eggplant, with some sort of tomato sauce, that expired in 2000,” he said. “I took it out of the pile . . . but I didn’t open it.”

Cialek, says McDonough, is indeed the go-to guy when it comes to food of questionable quality. “If something is expired, Andrew will be the one to let us know if it’s still good,” he said.

Clark chimed in with an example. “Those Graham crackers, what were they, 8 years old?” he asked Cialek. “Something like that . . . I know they tasted like cardboard,” Cialek confirmed with a laugh.

But no matter how many expired items the committee weeds out, it’s a sure bet that Campbell will be bustling with sorters and packers well after school today.

“We expect to be here until 6 or 7, at least,” Clark said.

Senior Nick Geist, who’s on the council’s support staff, is looking forward to reaping the benefits of the project. “It’s a lot of hard work, but I know that in the end it will be worth it,” he said.

The Make-A-Difference drive ends today, but residents are always welcome to donate food or personal essentials to the Presbyterian Church’s food pantry, Peeples said. Those interested can call the church at 424-6057 or Peeples at 424-1557.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6523 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.