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Leadership class at ODSS raises 5,400 lbs of donations for food bank

October 22, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By August Bettinelli

Orangeville District Secondary School’s (ODSS) leadership classes’ food drive concluded this past weekend; with final results totalling in at over 5,400 lbs.

This number not only surpasses their goal: matching, then beating last year’s results by around 1,000 lbs, but provides the food bank with resources to feed over 100 families.

The food collected is now being prepped to create microwaveable meals for those without the means to cook, a project Randy Narine and Phil Dewar from the Orangeville Food Bank are currently undertaking.

“We talk all the time about small acts of kindness and what they could mean to someone else. And that it may seem like one out of 365 days in the year for you where you go and try to collect something as simple as a can of food. But really, it means a meal to someone else. It means not being hungry that night,” says Corin Mercey, who teaches the leadership class at ODSS.

She describes her students as “enthusiastic” along with expressing “love” and “excitement” for the project.

Ms. Mercey said she “stepped back”, letting the students take charge of the assignment; encouraging them along the way, but allowing the independent work on the project to give them a “sense of purpose” within the community.

“We talk about the importance in serving the community, and not just being kind of a bystander, and things that are things that are going on,” she noted. “Service does wonderful things for – I’d say like just youth in general.”

Within the school, a competition was held between homerooms.

There were six participants, the highest classes being Ms. Yankulov’s class with 112 lbs, and runner up was Ms. Aultman’s class; bringing in 111 lbs.

“It just puts in that connection piece, like everybody is working together, and they feel it’s more like a family effort. Everyone is looking out for each other. And it’s not just everyone for themselves. So it’s nice we’re taking care of each other,” Ms. Mercey explains.

Furthermore, there are plans to make this an annual event, along with possibly running a similar event later on in the school year.

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