The winning first period class for this year’s Canned Food Drive is Mr. Thomas’. Consisting of 33 seniors, Mr. Thomas’ first period Theory of Knowledge class contributed an astounding 540 out of the school’s 2500 cans collected. Mr. Hines’ class, which is known to consistently perform well, came in a close second, trailing behind by only 14 cans.

Held from October 5 to October 9, the SGA’s Canned Food Drive challenged first period classes to raise the most cans to win a tasty breakfast. In the coming weeks, Thomas’ winning class will be rewarded with the Omelet Man, while all classes with over 100 cans will receive donuts and juice.

Mr. Thomas explains that his first period class was surprised but delighted to pull in first place. His classes have never won in previous years, but he feels that this year’s class was more inclined to help less advantageous individuals. “I am proud that my students used this opportunity to step up to help the helpless and poverty stricken,” Thomas said.

Thomas applauds his class, who responded with fervor and enthusiasm. “I especially give credit to Jack Gramlich and Jake Klosowski for collecting money to procure the canned goods,” Thomas said.

Thomas encouraged his students to participate in this event by keeping their objective in mind: “The goal of the canned food drive is to collect food to help others. I told my class that winning donuts or omelets are irrelevant.” He explains that this nice breakfast was a pleasant and kind reward for their efforts, but not the purpose of participating.

Until this year, the number of cans acquired has generally increased over the years. Instead of the six thousand or so cans collected in previous years, the school did not even get half as many this year. Despite the decent amount of cans raised, Seniors Julio Vasquez, Sara Van Dyke, and Mitzy Carvajal, members of SGA’s community service executive board, found the sudden drop a disappointing surprise.

Van Dyke and Vasquez did not want to understate the students’ efforts and participation, but admitted that they had much greater expectations for Richard Montgomery students. “We collected the most cans last year out of the whole Montgomery County,” Vasquez says.

Even though the canned food drive was well prepared, the low participation was attributed to multiple scheduling factors. “A major setback for us was the fact that homecoming was so early this year, and we had the canned food drive immediately after homecoming week,” school president Zack Khan explains. The lack of time between the two events made it hard to divert the attention to the food drive, since the time frame was not adequate to promote the food drive successfully.

Vasquez believes that the lack of participation was also affected by the teachers. He says the number of  teachers that were able to participate was overestimated. “Ms. Shay usually brings in a lot but didn’t have a first period this semester,” Van Dyke says.

The cans accumulated were donated to the Manna Food Center to help the poor and homeless. The cans allowed in this food drive were ones that contained a full meal, such as soup, however dented and expired cans or those with single ingredient, such as tomato paste or black olives, were not accepted.

Van Dyke said he enjoys how Manna keeps their effort in the county, allowing us to directly benefit families in our communities in a quick and efficient manner. Khan agreed, stating that the purpose of the drive is to help the community, encouraging the action of giving. Additionally, Khan also said he finds the canned food drive fun, especially enjoying the friendly competition between teachers like Mr. Hines and Mr. Thomas.

In addition to this annual canned food drive, SGA is thinking about holding another one later in the year. “If you didn’t participate this time around, make sure you try your best and bring cans when we do the food drive again,” Khan suggests. He also encourages everyone to look forward to numerous other events held by the SGA throughout this year, including an upcoming toy drive with fourth period classes and other drives for clothes and candy, as well as class competitions during the winter spirit week.