Keerthi Yalamanchili ‘17
EE Staff Writer
The holiday season was raging with spirit the past few weeks at Trumbull High, ablaze in the students as well as the faculty. The Holiday Food Drive is one of the ways the school as a whole demonstrated holiday cheer, organized by the Student Council, the Interact Club, and the Physical Education Department.
The collection boxes were placed in all homerooms and PE teachers collected donations during classes for extra credit, redeemable as one free zero for not changing in gym. The Food Drive concluded before break and the holidays may be over, but the impact that THS had on impoverished families is incredible and will last much longer.
As a school, Mr. Pijar reports, “The food drive this year was comparable to better than last year, I figure around 2,500 or so items. They [recipients of the donations] were very grateful because they were lacking in food supply.”
The goods collected were parceled out to Rescue Mission in Bridgeport, which provides religious enlightenment and food to those less fortunate, in addition to supporting other soup kitchens located nearby. THS’ efforts were able to replenish the stock of these starving food kitchens. It was a very impressive turnout this year, and its success is truly memorable.
The Interact Club at THS played a role in organizing this food drive when collecting the cans and helping to deliver them to Bridgeport. Anthony Masi, president of the Interact Club, is happy to lead fellow club members in this project because he “strongly believes that all citizens, regardless of age, should take an active role in serving their community.”
Masi looks forward to this project every year “because the entire student body comes together to meet the needs of our community,” which is truly commendable. He hopes that promotion of the Holiday Food Drive inspires others to make a larger impact on their communities.
Likewise, Student Council president Jacob Robbins emphasizes the importance of participation in the Food Drive, along with future school-wide projects,“I think the Food Drive was a big success this year. Maybe next year more clubs can be involved to help this important cause. The flyers really helped boost participation.” It is integral to recognize how much the gift of selflessness is worth. THS demonstrated an incredible amount of generosity this holiday season, and it is truly amazing to see how much high schoolers can do. In the future, regardless of any holidays, everyone needs to remember to give back to their community.
“Nobody should have to go hungry, and I’m happy to be making a difference,” Masi states.