Lake Oconee Academy held its annual canned food drive throughout November, collecting canned goods and non-perishable items for Second Harvest to donate to the Greene County Food Pantry.
According to a press release, students and staff donated 4,000 pounds of food to the pantry, doubling last year’s efforts. Kris Stevens, LOA’s Science Instructional Coordinator for fifth through twelfth grades, began organizing the event when she started working at the school.
Stevens stated that LOA runs a competition among the classrooms to collect the most goods, and the winning class receives an ice cream or pizza party.
“This project gives our students a real picture of how their actions can help neighbors right here in Greene County,” Stevens said. “They are not just hearing about community service; they are doing it. I am so proud of the way our Titans showed up this year.”
Stevens has worked at LOA for 14 years and supervises the school’s Beta Club. The student program, therefore, hosts the food drive, and participating students contribute their own donations and help load the truck for delivery.
“Everyone who’s in Beta Club is responsible for at least donating themselves, and our motto is ‘lead by serving others, ‘” Stevens said. “Beta Club is just the backbone of hosting it, with setting out all the boxes, doing the counting, and making sure how many of our total items are canned; then when the trucks get there, we just help load the vehicles.”
According to Stevens, the end of the food drive included contributions from LOA teacher Tom Imhoff and his weight training class. She says the students took charge of loading the heavy items into the truck during their class period.
“Pickup was at 10 o’clock [that day], which is around our second block class, and a lot of the kids [in Beta Club] couldn’t come out,” Stevens said. “I emailed coach Imhoff, and he was very receptive and said, ‘Absolutely, I’ll bring my kids, and we’ll get it done, ‘ so they were helpful to go around the whole school and bring all those items out, then load the vehicles.”
With the conclusion of the November food drive, Lake Oconee Academy ran a gently used coat drive throughout the first two weeks of December.
The donated items will also be sent to Second Harvest for the local food pantry.
Overall, Stevens believes donation drives are essential to the Greene County Food Pantry, given the current demand. She describes collaborating with Second Harvest as an essential experience because they prioritize the same values of collecting goods.
“It’s a very rewarding experience to see the number of people that are receptive to coming out and getting all the food that is available [at the food pantry through Second Harvest,” Stevens said. “They stress the impact that we are making, and so I’m just very thankful to give to them; we’re going to donate it, it doesn’t matter where it goes, but it seems like the food pantry has a lot more requests for items, so I’m just thankful to be able to help them in their needs.”