NACI students hope to ‘Scare Away Hunger’
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- Published on Tuesday, October 13, 2015
By Kira Paterson
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
On Oct. 31, over 100 students from Neepawa Area Collegiate (NACI) will be trick-or-treating for non-perishable food items.
The NACI HOPE group is organizing Neepawa’s part in the Scare Away Hunger food drive that happens every Halloween across the country. Students go door to door on that evening, when most children are trick-or-treating, and collect food for the local food bank. NACI has participated in it for several years and this is the second time HOPE has been in charge of it. Previously, it was a project that the student council took on. Samantha Nickart, a Grade 12 student at NACI, is one of the HOPE members in charge of the Scare Away Hunger committee.
It will be more than just the HOPE group going door to door on Halloween. “We’ve contacted the NACI Tigers football team and the hockey team. As well, some of the NACI student council is helping,” said Nickart. She added that there were a few students who aren’t part of those groups who have offered to help out as well. They will be split into groups to cover different routes throughout Neepawa. The whole town, including AspenLea and the Lake Irwin area, will be visited. The students involved will be wearing orange name tags that say ‘NACI Scare Away Hunger,’ so that the people donating know that they’re there for the food drive.
Last year, the drive collected about 2,400 pounds of food. “I don’t think we’ve talked about a goal [for this year], but personally I’d like to beat that,” Nickart said. All the food that they collect will go to the Neepawa Salvation Army food bank. “It’s not getting sent out, it’s all for the community,” explained Nickart.
On the Monday, Nov. 2, the Grade 12 Global Issues class will take all the food collected to the Neepawa Rifle Range and separate it into different categories, such as canned goods or pastas. From there, Salvation Army workers can take it to the food bank and sort the food into hampers later.
HOPE is the high school’s social justice group. It has been at the school for five years and participates in different fundraisers and food drives that support charities both in Canada and around the world. Several teachers and a few of the older students or long time members of HOPE run the group.
HOPE thanks the community for all the support they have given and hopes that it will continue to help the causes that the group stands for.
