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New Trier News

The student news site of New Trier High School

New Trier News

The student news site of New Trier High School

New Trier News

Canned food drive completes another sucessful year

For over 35 years, Tri-Ship and Girls Club have worked together to administer the largest canned food drive in the Northshore area for the Chicago Food Depository. This year the organizations added a virtual food drive where contributors could make direct donations to the depository online.

From Nov. 3 through Dec. 2, this year’s drive provided over 15,000 meals to those in need. To encourage students to bring in cans, there was a reward of a free breakfast for adviseries that collected at least 1000 pounds of food.

“It’s the least we can do to thank them,” explained Tri-Ship sponsor Scott Fricke. He continued, “It is also a great motivator for adviseries to participate in the drive.”

This year, 8 adviseries brought in over 1,000 pounds of food. In total, the Winnetka campus raised approximately 20,000 pounds of food. Although a drive 7 years ago yielded a record of 40,000 pounds, 20,000 pounds was enough to provide 16,572 meals.

Transferring the cans onto a vehicle was a difficult task. Tri-Ship head, Griffin Powell, shared that, “it is the most demanding part of the project. It takes a lot of work to load the truck.”

For 5 periods, the students move boxes and boxes of cans into the truck. Unfortunately, the boxes sometimes break, forcing the members to carry the cans individually.

Nevertheless, “[It is rewarding] to pack all the barrels and boxes into the truck, knowing it is all for a good cause,” said Girls Club sponsor, Melissa Gonzales.

Most adviseries have a member from either Girls Club or Tri-Ship to advertise the drive every year. Both clubs rely heavily on their fellow members in each advisery to recruit other students to participate in the drive.

“Tri-Ship and Girls Club members are held to high standards. Each of their adviseries is expected to contribute,” explained Fricke. The members must become leaders within their adviseries.

In addition, there were also countless signs posted on both campuses, reminding students of the important event on a daily basis.

Despite all the advertisements, a significant portion of the students brought in their cans at the last minute.

“Although [Tri-Ship and Girls Club] work hard to get the word out, sometimes it seems as though we won’t get enough cans,” Fricke added. “Luckily the students never let us down.”

This year’s virtual food drive contributed to the success of the event. Student activities coordinator Daniel Gross first suggested the idea. “I thought it was a great concept,” said Fricke.

The virtual food drive has increased profits tremendously, raising around $15,000 for the Chicago Food Depository alone.
The members of Tri-Ship and Girls Club aren’t involved with the virtual portion. They are limited to simply advertising the new virtual food drive and donating themselves.

“It’s a great new addition, but we do not play a large role in actually running the online drive,” shared Powell.

Tri-Ship and Girls Club are consistently one of the largest donators to the depository. Last year, ABC News covered the drive.

“We plan on continuing this way of donating in the future,” Fricke said, “not only can we help by donating as many cans as possible, but the money provides many meals.”

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