Tyler

By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer

Looking around at the stacks of canned green beans, corn and peas amassed inside a long, narrow trailer this week, Angela Frost said she thought of, "thousands of people that are going to be able to eat food."

Miss Frost is the chairman of the "pantry raid" for John Tyler High School and was working long hours this week, along with other students, to retrieve and load up as many pounds of food as possible by noon Friday to go to the East Texas Food Bank.

"There are a lot of people who are less fortunate than we are," Miss Frost said. "If I was in their position, I would want to be able to know that somebody is there for me."

The effort to collect food is certainly about helping; but, for John Tyler students it's also about wanting to end their cross-town rival's winning streak in the food drive competition.

For the last four years, Robert E. Lee High School has walked away with the trophy for gathering the most pounds of food to donate to the East Texas Food Bank as part of the annual competition between the two schools.

But this year, the seniors in charge of the project at John Tyler are hoping to regain that recognition.

"We're not going to settle for not winning this year," said Rashad Minnick, student council president. "We're going to try our best to get that trophy back."

Casie Homer, student council sponsor at John Tyler, said they like to call it a "spirited competition."

"Of course, we don't want to lose anything against them," Ms. Homer said. "It's just fun for the schools to compete. They're fired up."

She also said it is important to teach students to give back to the community.

Ms. Homer said the John Tyler administration has been very supportive of the effort.

Incentives for bringing canned goods for students include a free iPod to the student who brings the most and a dismissal of a tardy for students who bring five cans. The class that brings the most will have a pizza party, and the teaching department that collects the most will get a $100 gift certificate. Businesses in the community are also donating toward the effort.

This year, John Tyler students also went "trick-or-treating" for food on Halloween as part of the push to collect cans.

Feeder schools into John Tyler have also contributed - with one parent of an elementary student donating more than 5,000 cans. The feeder school class that brings the most will get to attend a pep rally at John Tyler.

Kelcie Granberry, student council parliamentarian, was lending his pickup, his time and effort this week to help transport food from John Tyler's feeder schools back to campus.

Granberry said he enjoys working on the effort because he likes to help people.

"There's so much stuff that we don't even eat that just sits in the pantry and we never use," he said. "Why not give it to somebody who doesn't have anything?"

Abriel Dixson, secretary of the student council, said she was shocked at how many cans they had already collected.

"I think we have a better chance of winning this year," Miss Dixson said, noting last year the two schools were very close. "I think we'll be even closer this year."

But the students understand it's more than about winning.

"It makes me feel good that we can give all this to the community and the needy," Miss Dixson said. "A lot of families are going to be happy this holiday season."

Ra’shad Wade, 17, a senior at John Tyler, takes cans collected in a food drive out to a truck on Tuesday.
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