The food drive started 10 years ago.

The food drive started 10 years ago.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Students at Boardman High School donated thousands of pounds of food to the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley.
The annual food drive is organized by the school's French Club. Nonperishables were collected at the school from Nov. 13 through Thursday.
Fifty-two gallon barrels, labeled Rescue Mission, in 42 classrooms were filled to overflowing with cookies, noodles, cereal, bottled water, canned goods and a host of other products.
The drive started 10 years ago with 10 to 15 barrels of food donated. French teacher Erica Shoon estimates there was enough food this year to fill about 65 barrels.
Dozens of student volunteers worked for more than an hour wheeling and carrying food from the building to two large Rescue Mission trucks to be taken to a Glenwood Avenue storage facility. Shoon said the students take the drive seriously.
"We have about 1,700 students and just about everybody has participated in some way. The students get really enthusiastic about this," she said.
Rewarded: The French Club offers prizes to the class that collects the most. A few weeks after the drive, French Club members also tour the Rescue Mission facilities and put on a performance in French for residents and staff at the mission.
John Ray, the mission's director of development, said the Boardman High School food drive, which collects more food for the mission than any other area school, plays a major role in food distribution at the agency.
"We are not getting as many donations as usual because of the events that took place in New York," he said. "This drive enables us to help those in the community. Boardman is, by far, the largest contributing high school in the area."
The mission provides shelter for between 50 and 80 people a day. It's open 365 days a year, serving three meals a day.
The mission also distributes emergency food baskets and used furniture to families in need.
jgoodwin@vindy.com