Students rally to make food drive a success

Local food pantries are reporting empty shelves as donations dwindle during the current economic climate, but the annual food drive at Matawan Regional High School was the best it's ever been, organizers said.

Above: Matawan Regional High School Key Club moderator Linda Weissman (r) checks donated food before Ashvini Venkatrama (center) and Tarek Morsy help transport it to local churches. Right: Key Club members Ken Liau (l-r), Yi Lin and Megan Trinkoff help carry food collected during the club's annual drive. "I have been doing this food drive for 10 years," said Key Club adviser Linda Weissman. "This year it is just overwhelming. The kids really came through and just brought in so much stuff."

The food drive, sponsored by the Key Club at Matawan Regional High School, ran from Oct. 27 to Nov. 14 and was open to all the students in the school who collected nonperishable canned goods and paper products.

"It was just a joy to see how much the kids love it," Weissman said. "I have to say we have more than 2,000 cans and boxes of nonperishables."

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff That estimate, Weissman said, was double what the food drive brought in last year.

"Last year, I thought of giving the food drive efforts up because I felt like I wasn't doing enough and that we weren't really collecting enough," she said. "But a few students approached me after I said that and they wouldn't let me stop the annual food drive."

Weissman, a secretary for 26 years with the high school, said that the food drive benefits St. John's United Methodist Church in Keyport and the Matawan United Methodist Church right around the corner from the high school.

"We pack it all in my car and deliver it to the different churches," Weissman explained. "There are 65 members of the Key Club and we had a core group of about 25 kids helping with the food drive."

A handful of those students were on hand Nov. 14 to help load Weissman's car with all sorts of canned and boxed goods.

"We held a friendly competition between at least 20 different homerooms and the winners will get a bagel breakfast," explained Key Club President Deirdre Glynn, a senior. "The homeroom that brought in the most food came in with a total of 244 items. Second place brought in 185 items and third place brought in 100."

Glynn, who has been a member of the Key Club since her freshman year, said that this year's food drive had the biggest turnout she had ever seen.

"Each year, we pick different food banks and our numbers really increased when we circulated clips from local newspapers about food banks drying up this year," Glynn explained.

Megan Trinkoff, a junior and vice president of the club, said that the club's membership hopes to hold a year-round food drive.

"We want to do one throughout the year because people don't just need food during the holidays, they need it all year," Trinkoff said. "We were told that the Matawan United Methodist Church's food pantry was bare, so hopefully our collection will help them with the holiday season. They are right around the corner from our school and they are our community and ours to support."

Other club members enjoyed getting into the spirit of giving.

"It's nice to help the community and there are people who are needy around here and they need our help," said club editor Tarek Morsy, a junior. "I am hoping that maybe we could keep this going. It is a good idea and obviously it is a task that we are fulfilling so we could make it a year-round project."

Key Club co-adviser Kerry Pross, a chemistry teacher, said that she has been helping with the club for the past two years.

"I think this project is great," she said as the students, toting armloads of groceries, made trips back and forth from the school library to Weissman's car. "These kids are always involved and they have great leadership."

Because Americans are worried about their jobs and their investments, they are donating less to food pantries, Weissman said.

"I am the big pusher for this project, and I can see that due to the economy, people can't afford food," Weissman said. "People like you and I lost jobs, and now they need food. But this year was our best year ever. Our cafeteria even donated large cans of food to the drive."

In addition to a food drive, the Key Club also holds a toy drive in December and April.

"Our toy drive starts Nov. 17 and ends Dec. 19," Weissman said. "We collect new or gently used toys to send to St. John's Methodist Church in Keyport. If people want to donate, all they have to do is come to the high school and drop their toys off in the main office."

The toy collection revolves around an enormous snowman in the school's main hallway.

"The snowman is adorned with snowballs that have a description of a toy," Pross explained. "Students select which toy they would like to bring in by taking a snowball down."

Weissman said that the toy drive also has been successful in years past.

"We get help from the elementary school and the parents really help out with the toy drive too," Weissman said. "The ages we need toys for range from infant to teenager. But I have to say we usually get a big response to that drive."

Recently, the Key Club expanded collection efforts to include troops deployed overseas in the Middle East.

"A few of the teachers here knew of soldiers deployed in Iraq, and so we have adopted a few of them and sent them care packages and thank you letters," Glynn added. "We even heard back from a few of them, and they all said that receiving the care packages was like getting a birthday gift."

That effort is just beginning.

"And now we have kind of organized the effort so we have lists of what they actually need so we can send them the deodorant, soap and foot powder, stuff like that," Trinkoff said. "We also got word that one of our adopted soldiers is over there with a Matawan [Regional High School] graduate, so we are working on adopting him, too."

Weissman said that she believes people genuinely enjoy participating in projects such as the ones the Key Club runs.

"People feel like they've really done something when they get involved or donate," she said. "This is good for our students because the school has participated in the outside world and our students really push for this project."

To make a donation to the Key Club toy drive, running Nov. 17 to Dec. 19, bring a new or slightly used unwrapped toy for ages ranging between infants to teenagers to the main office at the high school on Atlantic Avenue in Aberdeen.