Usually organizations like the Regional Food Distribution Association are all about tearing down walls. But in this case, odds are they’ll make an exception.
Students from Superior Collegiate Vocational Institute spent most of Tuesday morning building walls out of soup cans at Intercity Shopping Centre, topping their model homes with Kraft Dinner roofs. It’s all part of an annual food drive, which spokesperson Kristen Mutschel said she hopes will surpass the $30,000 mark.
“We’re promoting a canned sculpture with it to further promote our cause and let the community be more aware of what we’re doing,” she said.
“This year has been really good. We don’t know how much we’ve raised, but last year we raised $25,000 worth of food and we are hoping for $30,000 and we think we’ve actually reached our goal.”
The students collected the food on Halloween, part of an ongoing education about poverty in the community they’ve been learning at school.
“We had about 170 people come out and volunteer (on Halloween). All the food goes to the RFDA, which they use to send to Shelter House and various food banks and churches across the city. We’re doing this to help the issue of poverty and hunger in our city.”
The 18-year-old Mutschel said it’s a special feeling knowing that teens, together with several teachers, can make a difference at such an early age.
“It feels really good. I’ve been really excited,” she said, pointing to her classmates busy erecting soup-can walls behind her.
“This is not even half of the food that we have. There’s a bunch in the staffroom at our school. There’s a lot, so a lot of people are going to be able to feed themselves and it’s going to help them a lot.”
SCVI peer leadership teacher Trisha Cibinel said planning a community event is part of the curriculum in her class, and Halloween for Hunger fits in perfectly with what she’s trying to accomplish. Not only does it teach her students about giving back to the community, it allows them to see the benefits firsthand.
It says a lot about the upcoming generation, Cibinel said.
“We’re doing this because there is a need in our community and there are students at our school who need to use food banks,” she said. “It affects all of us at different times, so they are very much aware of this.”
Students and teachers also raised more than $2,800 through a chain link challenge. Each link cost 50 cents and their goal was to create a chain that stretched around the school. They’ve since revised that goal, and want to form one that stretches the length of Intercity Shopping Centre.
The teens and their teachers will be at the mall until Nov. 23.
