"It's really inspiring": Blaine H.S. students donate thousands of pounds of food, resources
BLAINE, Minn. -- Students from Blaine High School's National Honor Society are doing their best to gather as many donations as they can to help their community.
For the sixth consecutive year, student leaders are raising donations for Southern Anoka Community Assistance – a local food shelf and thrift store. Each of the 360+ NHS students were tasked with collecting 50 items to donate.
"We've been planning and working on this since the school year even started," NHS President and Blaine High School Senior Abisade Kotila said. "It's really inspiring to see how much people want to help."
"We've seen a lot of students that have gone above and beyond, bringing 100 plus items," Blaine High School Senior Ella Christensen said.
On the first day of the drive Tuesday, students gathered close to 9,000 pounds of donations. Their hope is to break a record they set in 2021, when they put together more than 25,000 pounds of donated items.
"It's why I do it. It's why I teach. It's why I advise NHS," said BHS teacher Justine Wewers. "When they're bringing in their 50-100 items individually, it doesn't feel like that big of a deal. But when you have 360 plus kids doing it, it makes such a massive, massive impact."
Southern Anoka Community Assistance Co-Director Dave Rudolph says the donations couldn't be coming at a more critical time.
As inflation pushes prices higher, he says their food shelf is seeing more people seeking help.
"We're seeing an average of about 4-6 families coming in a day – new families most days," he said. "Last month, we had 72 new families come in."
Rudolph says the shelf is in the biggest need of canned meats like chicken and tuna, pre-packaged meals like ramen and mac and cheese, along with toiletries.
On Thursday, for just the second time, the BHS students plan to open the drive to the community. From roughly 2:30-3:30 Thursday, they're inviting everyone in the community to drop off donations at their packing site in front of the school.
"Even if you don't live within the Blaine area, you can still help the community," Kotila said. "Think of things from the goodwill of your heart. Donate to the community. Even if it's not just donating, participate in other ways to get back to the community, because the holiday season is coming and unfortunately there will be families that might not have a shelter, might not have a thanksgiving meal or Christmas meal or gifts for that matter."
