Vice Principal Gary Scholl danced into chorus homeroom, waving a sign and hoping to present senior Alex Schmidt with apple juice and an oversized Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip muffin. However, since Schmidt had not brought in her canned goods, her homeroom teacher Mark Bolden would enjoy her breakfast.

Main Office Secretary Susan Strawbridge and Outreach Director Tony Martin are using this free breakfast to motivate students to donate canned goods to the JC Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive.

One student’s name is drawn each day. If the student has brought in canned goods, a breakfast treat will be presented to them the next morning. If they haven’t brought in any, the breakfast goes to the homeroom teacher.

Thus far, senior Caitie Beth Shauck is the only to win the prize.

Last year, the Food Drive brought in 3500 cans. The cans were donated to two food pantries, Manna House and Our Daily Bread.

So far this year, only 100 cans have been collected with a week left in the drive.

One of the donation locations, Manna House, serves 75 families every week. Once a month, they deliver food to 200 senior citizens.

Because of the declining economy, there is no more federal funding to buy food. According to Manna House’s Program Direction Saleem Gauhar, families who have always relied on Manna House for support may go hungry.

“I’ve seen the people that come through soup kitchens, and a lot of them rely on this to survive,” said Strawbridge.

According to Gauhar, over 50,000 meals were served last year at Manna House.

“But now the times are bad, and the number of people with needs goes up while the number of people who are actually fed goes down. To anyone who can help in the slightest way: God bless you,” said Gauhar.

“This school is made up of approximately 850 students. If each student brought in just one can, it would make such a difference,” said Strawbridge.

Alex Bahr can be reached for comment at [email protected].