by Chris Wells, staff writer
Starting on Nov. 17, English teacher, Scott Ragan began hosting a canned food drive in his classes; collecting cans to give to collections helping those in need.
Ragan has been keeping former FVHS student, Mason Lee’s dream of having a food drive alive for four years now.
“When Mason was a junior, he came to me and asked to start a can food drive in the class, just because he was that kind of guy and he always liked to help people out,” said Ragan.
Ragan accepted Lee’s request for a canned food drive and started it in his English class. Instead of having it in only one of his class periods, Ragan extended the drive to all his class periods.
Once Lee graduated, Ragan decided to keep the drive going for his future classes. He has been hosting this event for five years and every year increases the goal of how much he can collect. The first year the drive had begun, Ragan had a goal of collecting 150 cans and every year since, he has increased the goal by 25. Last year, his goal was to collect 350 cans, but Ragan received 505 cans to donate. This year he has set a goal of 375 and hopes to receive the overwhelming support again. Within the five years of having the drive, Ragan has never fallen behind on a goal.
“Students here are incredibly generous and a lot of times students will spend their own money and not their parents,” said Ragan. “They will go to Big Lots or where there are big sales. They will spend their own money to bring in the stuff.”
The cans have been taken to different charities over the years. For the first two years, Lee took the cans to Second Harvest. The following years Ragan took it to the Southern California Indian Center. This year Ragan hasn’t decided where to take it, but will take the donations to a bank where it’s needed most.
“You don’t get extra credit for the class but get extra credit in your heart,” said Ragan jokingly. “It’s just a kind and simple way to know that you’re helping out people that feel it especially this time of year.”
Ragan’s canned food drive will continue accepting canned foods until Dec. 19 in room 125.
