This year St. John Neumann participated in a special way to help the community, a canned food drive. This event was run by the House Council, and overseen by Coach Ward. Every day before school, during the week before Thanksgiving break, Coach Ward and members of House Council would stand outside with bins for the cans, and speakers with music. Neumann set a high goal in the number of cans to be reached, in hopes to beat our previous record of cans collected. Coach Ward set out many incentives for the students to help bring in the cans, with an award for each incentive met. The biggest incentives everyone was going for were no school Friday, and for Coach Ward to shave his head. These were good incentives for the students because we reached both of them. It was a fun way for students to give back to their community.

The way the food drive was organized was that each of the four houses had different Thanksgiving foods to bring in. The foods included stuffing, canned vegetables, Mac and cheese, and mashed potatoes. Houses would also get points for the amount of cans they brought in, which was another incentive. We asked Coach Ward to explain how the drive works. 

Can you explain how the food drive works?

Every year Catholic Charities asks us to raise food donations to give to less fortunate families around Thanksgiving time. This helps provide them with some type of meal for thanksgiving, and to provide a little support to them. We give all the food and cans we collect to Catholic charities who then distribute it. 

This was another motivation for the students because they were reminded how much donating a few cans can help other families and the community as a whole. It was a great way for students to do a good deed and be more involved in the well-being of the community.