Students at Delaware Hayes High School went above and beyond last week when they raised nearly 12,000 canned goods for a variety of Delaware County organizations for their Fight Against Hunger Games drive.
Rex Reeder, assistant principal at Hayes, said the event was held from Nov. 16 to Nov. 20 at the high school and was one of the school’s house competitions. Reeder said students from each of the eight houses at Hayes brought it canned goods and nonperishable foods but Steamtown was the group that brought in the most, with 3370.
Reeder said the house would be rewarded with a visit from Kona Ice today.
The project was a collaboration with the Delaware County Juvenile Court after Intake Officer, Cecelia Monahan, proposed the idea of a food drive to Juvenile and Probate Judge David Hejmanowksi and met with leaders at Hayes to put the event together.
“I wanted to reach out and show the Juvenile Court does more than just criminal cases and it snowballed from there,” Monahan said.
Reeder said the original goal of the drive was 5000 cans and Monahan and Hejmanowski were “blown away” by the response.
“It says a lot about their generosity,” Monahan said.
“They should be proud of themselves,” Hejmanowski said. “It’s wonderful to be involved with these students who see a need and step up.”
One of the organizers of the project, Lisa Williamson, an intake division department head at the Juvenile Court, said the food has been divided up and will go to a number of different groups.
Williamson said some of the food, like green beans, corn and rolls would be given out Tuesday morning to families in need during the schools Thanksgiving meal giveaway between 10:50 a.m. to noon Tuesday at Delaware Hayes High School.
The other would would go to the Delaware Veterans Association, People in Need, and the Weekend Helper program at the Elementary Schools to provide children on free or reduced lunch meals over the weekend.
Reeder said this was the first year of the program and he hopes to make it a new tradition
