I met with my Assistant
Principal and some other teachers and before I knew it, Heritage Philanthropy
Club (HPC), the Muslim Student Association (MSA), and Daughters of our Living
Lord and Savior (DOLLS) were all excited about this project and eager to help.
We decided to hold a
competition between the 2A classes. The class with the maximum items donated
would win but didn’t reveal what the winning class would receive as a prize. At
Heritage High School, every individual, whether they are a student, or a teacher,
lives by a code called Coyote CLASS.
CLASS stands for for Character, Leadership, Accountability, Scholarship,
and Service to others. We hoped the
students would use this as an opportunity to show their service to others.
The classes were rated on
a point system per item. The items most needed by Frisco Family services were
worth two points, while all other items were worth a point. Each Friday, the items
collected were tallied up, points were awarded, and the officers of the
organizing clubs took the items to the front of the school to set up a display.
Students saw this display grow larger and larger as the weeks went on, and
gained a deep sense of pride in themselves and their school.

We had great
participation in the first week itself. Some classes brought in, a humble 5-10
cans, while other classes knocked it out of the park by bringing cartloads of food.
At that time, we decided to divulge the prize for the contest winners – FREE breakfast
for the winning class.
A little incentive gave another boost to the food drive. Each class was attempting to outdo each other
in bringing in food items. On the side, we contacted local stores and very excited when two local Kroger stores agreed to match our collection up to $250. Whole
Foods went another step ahead and matched penny for penny.

On the last day of the food drive, we had the front hallway of the school filled with food collected by the students. A Penske truck had been hired to take the food from the school to Frisco Family Services. All of the organizing groups come together one last time to load the food (yes, we had two truckloads of food!!!) into the truck.
I am proud to say that Heritage students and staff contributed a total of 2,601 items weighing 2,678 lbs. That’s enough food to feed 27 families and fill a 16-foot truck twice! Special recognition to Ms. Biggerstaff’s class, who contributed 1,215 of the 2,601 items
-Amit
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