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Published on 12/15/1999 All articles from this issue

Homestead High makes record-breaking donation to Sunnyvale services center

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By Melissa Leavitt / Town Crier Staff Writer

For the second year in a row, the students at Homestead High School made a record-breaking donation to Sunnyvale Community Services.

The school's month-long annual holiday canned food and money drive ended Friday. The students presented community services with $6,000 and 15,000 cans of food.

To date, Homestead's donation is the largest donation presented to the city by a single organization.

The school's Leadership Class, taught by Activities Director Paula Bassett and a requirement for all Associated Student Body (ABS) officers, was responsible for organizing the drive. ABS Social Manager Hazel Ang served as this year's Food Drive Chairperson.

Organizing the drive required a large time commitment from the students involved. "Every single day, that's what we've all been doing," Ang said.

Much of this time was spent tallying the point totals for each class, determining which contributed the most money and food to the drive.

Each third period class worked as a team, turning in donations as a group. The first-, second- and third-place classrooms received prize money for small classroom celebrations.

At first, the prizes were offered as an incentive for the students. However, last year's first-place class promptly turned their prize money over to Sunnyvale Community Services as part of the school's larger donation. Ang expects this generosity to become a tradition in the drive.

Even so, the competition was fierce.

"It got really competitive among the classes," noted Michael Nieto, another Leadership student who chose to take an active role in the drive. "We've even had two classes turn in $1,000 donations."

Ang estimated that every student contributed at least 300 cans to the effort.

The Homestead students controlled every aspect of the drive, from collecting donations to bringing the cans and money to the Community Services headquarters. The success of the drive depended on the students' abilities to manage and orchestrate such a large-scale project, as well as their enthusiasm and generosity.

Efforts made by the students have not gone unnoticed by the community. Last year, Homestead High School received special recognition from the city of Sunnyvale.

Nieto, who is taking the Leadership class as an elective, took it upon himself to be involved in the drive. To him, its success is a good indication of the positive impact that teens can make on their community.

"The food drive is just a good way to let people know that high school students can still make a difference in our society," he concluded.