There was a spirit of giving in the air at the North Bay Food Bank on Thursday as the West Ferris Trojans unloaded a moving van full of food and hygiene items for the food bank. For the last 18 years, West Ferris students have gone out into the city collecting donations for the city’s hungry. “Makes you feel good. It makes us feel good that we can help the community as a school and do our part,” said Grayden McFarland, as he unloaded canned goods. Around 150 students, teachers and volunteers collected food Wednesday evening. In total, the school collected 10,022 pounds of non-perishable food items and other necessities, along with $350 in cash donations. “That’s a big number,” McFarland said. The students said they enjoy going door-to-door and seeing homeowners hand them whatever they have in their pantry. “We got a few ‘congratulations’ or a few ‘good luck’ messages,” said student Riley Vacheff. The school came up with the Trojan Food Drive after one of the radio stations back in the day held a food drive contest and all the students across North Bay participated. “It was like a citywide competition and for whatever reason, they stopped doing that,” said teacher Mark Robertson. “But we continued it on and now it’s sort of on the calendar every year.” The North Bay Food Bank is happy to receive the donation. The food students collected will ensure its inventory is stocked for the 45 households that are helped each day. “The demographic is changing. We had traditionally seen a lot of our seniors and single adult households,” said Debbie Marson, the food bank’s executive director. “But there are families coming now and people that are working and just can’t make ends meet.” West Ferris is challenging the other high schools in the city to either match their donation or try to top their number. “They’re not going to beat us. They’re not going to be us,” laughed Vacheff. If your home was missed, you can still donate directly to the food bank location on Fisher Street.
