M-A annual food drive helps feed students and community families

Just try to resist the charms of Menlo-Atherton students Maya Jevans (left) and Ty Chehak, who’ll be stationed outside Trader Joe’s after school for the rest of this week. They are there collecting canned goods and other non-perishable items for the school’s annual food drive.

Legendary M-A football coach Ben Parks started the drive in 1999, collecting 5,000 cans in its inaugural year. Last year enough food was gathered to feed over 550 families. Food is collected at the school as well as local stores and distributed through Second Harvest and Ecumenical Hunger.

Maya and Ty, along with fellow student Margret Ringler, had their pitch honed to perfection. Shoppers were given a “wish list” of food stuffs, making it easy to pick up a few items when shopping. Their closely-guarded shopping cart was close to overflowing with donated items.

Monetary donations are also welcome and used to purchase perishable food times just before distribution on Dec. 11th. If you’d like to know where to drop off food or make a donation, email MAHScannedfooddrive@gmail.com.