By Emily Money

The annual canned food drive is upon us! This fundraiser to raise money and food for Hospitality House officially started last Monday, November 11. The school wide goal is to raise $17,000 or 34,000 cans by November 22.

“The drive is really important, Central is the leading contributor to the Hospitality House,” said freshman Student Council member Nevada Leslie. “By helping, you could be giving a Central family something to eat, because one in three families from Central has relied on Hospitality House for food.”

Central has turned this drive into a competition between first hour classes to raise the maximum amount of food for charity. A lunch was held by Hospitality House to hype up teachers. First hour teachers were encouraged by the Student Council to provide incentives to students for bringing in nonperishable food items.

For example, Science teacher Sherri Look’s first hour biology class has different increments of prizes for bringing in cans. “For $9 each, we get two weekends without homework. For $12, we get donuts and a movie. For $15, we’ll have fun science,” said freshman Rilee Manning.

Totals are counted every day before the end of school. This year, there is still a long way to go! “We can drive, and we won’t stop until we get the number of cans we want,” stated Leslie.

Prizes for overall class winners will be awarded in addition to the bribes from teachers.  Also, classes in which all students bring a minimum of $9 or 18 cans will be rewarded with a Thanksgiving Break free of homework.

Last year, WLC exceeded our goal by raising 41,423 cans of food. Hospitality House was able to feed 2040 people on this donation.

The food drive is organized every year by the Student Council. They are in charge of designing CFD t-shirts and holding “Empty Bowls”, the lunch event where students can experience the atmosphere of a soup kitchen during the holiday season.

“Thank you for taking the time, it means a lot to the community,” said Student Council advisor Laura Matousek.