Ethan Hoagland
Canned and penny food drives at Sweet Home High School will pay off by feeding 50 families for Thanksgiving this year, according to language arts teacher Tomas Rosa, who helps oversee the program.
Large portions of the donated food is collected during a drive through at parent teacher conferences. Rosa said preliminary totals show more than 1,500 pounds of food collected this year.
Rosa said that Family Services Liaison Rich Guzman with the Linn Benton Lincoln Education Service District got the Salvation Army to help this year’s drive with turkey donations.
“We’ve done a lot of good throughout the community so far,” Rosa said.
On Monday, Nov. 20, Guzman and other Sweet Home High School staff members delivered the baskets to families in need around the community. Students helped load the vehicles for those deliveries.
“It’s really cool to see our kids giving back,” Rosa said. “And not just the leadership kids, or the class board kids, but every kid in the school gets the opportunity to do it.”
He added, “We try and include a lot of people to give them the opportunity to give back.”