Reprint from the Progress Times - November 23, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

Valley schools help community give thanks

This week, many students in the Lower Rio Grande Valley had more on their mind than simply waiting for their Thanksgiving break. At schools all around the area clubs and groups spent the week trying to make sure the community had something to give thanks for this year.

In the district of Sharyland alone nine different schools put on different events serving the community this week before Thanksgiving.

At B.L. Gray Junior High students and staff participated in a Thanksgiving food drive sponsored by the National Junior Honor Society. The campus collected 1,700 cans and even put together baskets for 11 different families including turkeys which were purchased by faculty members and the Sharyland Parent/Student Teacher Organization (SPSTO). The remaining items collected and purchased were donated to the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley.

The student council of Wernecke Elementary put on their own canned food drive with a theme of "Sharing the Warmth". Twenty-five baskets were put together for families with Wernecke parents and members of Our Savior Lutheran Church donating blankets for each member of the families that received a basket. The elementary schools of Bentsen, Garza, Hinojosa, Jensen, Martinez, Shary and Shimotzu all also held food drives and donated gift baskets to needy families.

Students in Mission schools have also done their part to help out those in need through canned food drives.

Canned food drives at Leal Elementary School resulted in over 3,637 donated items totaling 2,418 pounds of donated food. The project was done in conjunction with the League, the Salvation Army, Peter Piper Pizza, the Leal sixth grade gifted and talented students, the Leal student council and the Leal Parent/Teacher Organization.

Students at Veterans Memorial High School (VMHS) held a food drive and delivered items to needy families on November 20. In addition to the food drive the students of VMHS have also been asking for donations for water, personal hygiene items and other items to help the flood and mudslide victims in Mexico.

Valerie Franco, 8th grader and student council president at Mission Junior High who also held their own canned food drive, said she didn’t realize the kind of response their efforts would get.

"I was very surprised," said Franco. "We were expecting maybe 1,000 cans but we actually had a student who donated 500 cans."

Mission Junior High boasted 2,863 cans after just a week-long drive.

"I think this is a very good thing," said student council parliamentarian Katie Rodriguez. "People take for granted all the things that we have and there are other people in the world who don’t have enough and we should really help them."

First year student council sponsor Paul Mason also said the students have come together in a way he didn’t expect.

"Coming here I was completely surprised by the camaraderie of the students in doing this."