Downey High School students and the Downey PTSA program held their 4th Annual Canned Food Drive throughout Oct 31 and Nov 10. Its cause was to collect non perishable food items for those in need in the local community.

Because of her passion to help others in need, Natalie Haro, 12, acknowledges the need to give to others through charity.

“When you give generously to another with no expectations of receiving anything in return, you are truly doing a purely selfless act of kindness, and in my opinion there is no better demonstration of good character,” Haro said. “I think it is a great way of keeping us grateful for what we have, as well as helping others.”

Downey held a school-wide competition amongst all fourth period classes as motivation to reach their goal of 15,000 food items. The top three classes with the most cans were given the options of a pizza party, ice cream party, or a donut party.

As a teacher, Mrs. King considers the competition to be a great motivator for students to donate as many cans as possible.

“I think the friendly competition between fourth periods highlights the need for food items in our community,” King said. “Students bring in cans for different reasons, such as extra credit, but hopefully students will become more aware of their role as citizens to help those less fortunate in our community.”

The holidays are a time to reach out to those who are in need of basic items such as food. Downey High School students demonstrated their character towards their community by donating to the food drive.

Because of her aspiration of reaching out to others, Beatrice Salas, 12, did so by taking part of and donating to the food drive.

The winners of the competition were the classes of Mrs. King as third place, Mr. Armendariz for second, and last but not least Mr. Young as first place.

“I feel like giving to the poor is a good thing that everyone should do to better the community,” Salas said. “It is important that students get involved in demonstrating character through giving to others because I feel like it gives them a sense of importance and shows them that they can positively affect someone else’s life.”

The Annual Canned Food Drive’s aspiration to achieve its goal of collecting at least 15,000 food items for those in need demonstrates the good character of the Downey community. Let alone, the winners accumulated a total of 2, 745 food items.