We scare hunger
Cannon Falls student council members collect canned food instead of candy on Halloween.
sAs the sun set over Cannon Falls on October 31st, ghosts and ghouls began to fill the streets. Young children were venturing out, seeking to amass as much candy as possible before the sun went down. Among the swathes of children was the High School Student council. With 4 cars filled with people, the council set out to collect canned food items to donate to the local food shelf.
After weeks of planning the council put their plan into action, but there was one problem. The fliers that were handed out didn’t give a pickup time for the food items. Despite this setback the council was still able to collect their goal of 500 items, doubling what was collected last year. Items were collected by the council in neighborhoods throughout the town. Ridge Crest, the neighborhood behind the Casey’s gas station, and the neighborhood where the old hospital used to be contributed quite a bit of donations to help reach the goal.
“I donated a few different canned goods and a box of Pop-Tarts,” says Cindy Bauer, a citizen of Cannon Falls. With such a fortunate town, some people lose sight of what it’s like to not have resources that we take for granted daily. “I think it’s great that the school is taking time to give back to people that are less fortunate,” Bauer adds.
The day following the collection, student council members Ryan Schlichting and Nathan Van Zuilen dropped off two car loads of food. Sue Banks, the woman who runs the shelf, made it clear how much the donations help. “Our community does a great job at supporting the less fortunate. It is really amazing to see this much food brought in simply based on door knock donations.” Banks goes on to say how they need a lot more food in the winter months. “There is also a surprising number of older citizens who need the food we provide here. Every little bit counts.”
With this year’s collection all wrapped up, the future members are already formulating new ideas on how to bring in even more food. For one, they plan on giving more clear instructions on the fliers that are distributed to the community. Another suggestion made by Ryan Schlichting, the student council treasurer is to map out which houses each car will get to avoid hitting the same houses. The hope is to increase the amount of food donated each year. A huge thanks must go out to the community of Cannon Falls, as none of it would’ve been possible without them.
Nathan Van Zuilen is a senior and a News Editor on the Lantern. When he’s not busy with Soccer, Speech, or Track, he enjoys spending his time finding...