Brea Olinda High School’s Associated Student Body (ASB) partnered with Canning Hunger to collect over 2,000 cans for the “Making a Difference” food drive from Oct. 27 to Nov. 17.
Canning Hunger is a national nonprofit organization based in Brea that provides millions of donated meals for hungry families across the U.S. in its ongoing effort to “fight hunger in America.”
According to Activities Director Pam Valenti, BOHS’s previous partner, Brea City Emergency Council, discontinued their canned food drives (opting instead to provide “grocery store gift cards for families in need”), and Canning Hunger “reached out” to partner with ASB.
Students donated non-perishable canned items such as soup, beans, meat, fruit, and pasta in boxes placed by ASB in teacher classrooms. The cans were collected by ASB members from the rooms, collated and boxed in the ASB room, and picked up by Canning Hunger trucks Nov. 19.
To increase participation in the event, students were promised a doughnut party for the second period class that raised the most cans for the drive. The winning classes were Kurtis Chan’s General Physics 1 class, and Amanda Huson’s (‘09) AP Language and Composition class. Both classes accumulated more than 500 cans each.
Chan motivated his second period to donate by giving them a choice to “either donate a canned good item or to write a scientific article summary.” However, according to Chan, it was evident that his students would have donated anyway, and that his second period physics students “definitely showcased their willingness to help out those in need.”
Huson echoed Chan’s sentiment about the generosity of their students. “It was really nice to see people be generous and give to people who really need it,” Huson said. Huson was encouraged by the amount of cans collected school-wide, and hopes the results set the bar for future food drives.
Canned food drives at BOHS date back almost 35 years, and were held annually until the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Valenti and ASB revived the tradition as “a great opportunity for our entire school community to unite for the benefit of others.”
ASB Social Welfare Commissioner Kaila De Wit (‘27) hopes the return of the food drive will further get students “involved with school.”
Louie Olvera (‘27), AP Language student, said the contest gave him and his classmates incentive to contribute with hopes of “not just [helping], but also to see if [they] could win the competition.”
To Chan, the drive showcased how the BOHS student body “has care for their community,” and how BOHS is “willing to help those in need.”
After the boxes were picked up by the trucks, they were transported to the Canning Hunger facility at 407 West Imperial Highway. The contributions are then distributed to food banks, shelters, recovery homes, and other organizations that support those in need in time for Thanksgiving.
“Whether it was one can or a hundred cans, there was definitely a difference made,” Chan said.
