As winter came around the corner, it became time for the Interact Club to hold a seasonal food drive. This year, over 500 food items were donated, adding up to a whopping total of 600 pounds worth of donations.
Interact is an international community service program. All over the world, it’s held in schools as a club for students to connect with their community through acts of service. At Morgan specifically, it’s also connected to the rotary club.
The drive worked by supplying boxes into each advisory classroom, which students were suggested to fill with shelf-stable food goods. All products were then brought to the Shoreline Food Pantry.
Food drives are vital to help our community and tackle the problem of hunger. In Clinton, nearly 12% of the town faces food insecurity. Everyone can be a victim of food insecurity, including your neighbor or fellow classmates.
The Interact Club decided that November and December were fitting months to hold a food drive due to the many holidays happening in the span of these two months. Ms. Shook, social studies teacher who also manages Interact, stated “we [wanted to] replenish the food at the food pantry after Thanksgiving in preparation for Christmas.”
Ms. Shook considers the food drive to have been successful. However, she “wishes more advisories participated, because some did not have any food to donate.”
“We received more [than 500] items,” Ms. Shook commented, “but some were expired which we disposed of prior to dropping off the donation.”
Lots of planning went into the drive before it could take place. Several club meetings were needed to fully put the drive into action.
The process was explained by Ms. Shook, “I divided the students into several groups. Each group was asked to research food insecurity; around the world, in the US, in Connecticut and in Clinton. The students then used the research to create the lesson on food insecurity that was presented in advisory.”
As the year comes to its halfway point, the Interact Club still has a variety of activities they wish to hold. The food drive is only one of many great things that the club helps our Clinton community.