For the Polo Park Middle School’s National Junior Honor Society, sponsoring the Food for Families canned food drive has become an annual tradition.
The goal is always the same — to donate more cans and other nonperishable items than the year before. When the school was able to hand over more than 1,500 cans last year, it seemed as though that might be a tough number to beat. This year, the school’s students helped the NJHS collect 3,110 cans that went to families in need.
“We set a goal to beat the number from last year, but none of us expected to collect more than 3,000 cans,” NJHS Secretary Alexa Anderson said. “It was really awesome to see the kids in our school donate so many cans and show how much they care about the community and those who need our help during the holidays.”
The project is run in conjunction with WPTV News Channel 5 and donates food to less fortunate families in need during this holiday season. In the three years that Polo Park has been involved with Food for Families, it has donated more than 6,000 canned goods.
“We are extremely proud of not only the honor society, but the entire student body here a Polo Park,” NJHS faculty co-sponsor Craig Kaliser said. “To be honest, we were worried at the start of the food drive because we weren’t seeing many cans coming in, but the NJHS members really pushed their fellow students to meet the challenge, and they did so — in spectacular fashion. We could not be prouder of our kids.”
This service project, along with a toy drive and donation to Palms West Hospital every December, are examples of the dedication to the community that Polo Park and its NJHS believe in.
ABOVE: National Junior Honor Society students with the 3,110 cans.
