Ashley Ridge rallies for needy: High school makes it fun for annual Student …

Want to go to the front of the lunch line at Ashley Ridge High School? Bring a canned good.

Attend the 3-on-3 basketball tournament? Canned good. Show your support for Clemson or Carolina? Participate in field day? Cans and more cans.

The Dorchester District 2 high school and the surrounding community have rallied to support the Lowcountry Food Bank’s annual Student Food Drive, which collects canned goods and nonperishable items.

Photo by Tyrone Walker

Christine Walker and her daughter, Sarah, help students at Ashley Ridge High School box up collected can goods Thursday.

Photo by Tyrone Walker

A canned-good collection station sits in the main hallway at Ashley Ridge High.

Food drive

Participating schools: West Ashley High School, Military Magnet, Berkeley Middle College High School, North Charleston High School, Charleston County School of Arts, Wando High School, Berkeley Star Academy, Greg Mathis Charter High School, Stall High School, Ashley Ridge High School, Academic Magnet High School, Septima P. Clark Academy, Fort Dorchester High School, Cross High School and Charleston Charter School for Math and Science.

When: Through Nov. 7.

Contact: Lowcountry Food Bank, www.lowcountryfoodbank.org.

“We have a really spirited student body, and all the classes work together really well to get behind this,” said junior Sean Kamperman, a member of the Leadership 2 class that is heading up the effort along with three Leadership I classes.

The events, the first community service project of the school year, bring the student body together with fun activities, he said. Among them:

–A school dodgeball tournament that earlier this month drew 23 teams who paid or donated cans to participate. Spectators also paid or brought cans to enter.

–Food drives in nearby neighborhoods and Beech Hill, Oakbrook and Pye elementary schools.

–A Clemson vs. Carolina drive at the school.

–A contest starting Monday between third-period classes with the winners getting passes to the front of the lunch line.

–A 3-on-3 basketball tournament on Oct. 24, with teams donating cans or money to participate and spectators giving cans or money for entry.

–A bake sale on Oct. 26 to raise money to buy canned goods. A sale on Oct. 6 netted more than $250.

–A field day with games such as cornhole and kickball on Oct. 28.

–Three Ashley Ridge students also attended a recent Dorchester District 2 School Board meeting to talk about the drive, inspiring board members to pledge to bring cans to the next meeting.

Ashley Ridge Leadership teacher Erin Kestner, who oversees the activities planned by the students, says the drive not only teaches the students valuable skills as they organize their events, but it also teaches them about giving.

“When they are loading and stacking thousands of pounds of food, it really brings it home to them,” she said.

This is the third year for the drive, which was started by the food bank with grant money from Feeding America and Tyson foods. The food bank has decided to continue the program even though the grant has ended, said Amy Kosar, food solicitor.

“We wanted to do something where we could involve the education community,” Kosar said. “This embraces a different demographic than we are normally able to engage with food drives.”

Schools across the Lowcountry are challenged to raise 5 pounds of food per student, with “ParticiPounds poundage boosts” for planning creative events, involving feeder schools or posting photos to the Student Food Drive Fan Page on Facebook.

The goal set by the food bank for Ashley Ridge this year is 9,680 pounds. Kamperman said he does not know whether canned peas are heavier than canned corn, but even so, the goal is easily reachable.

The first year, Ashley Ridge donated about 9,000 pounds of food. Last year, the school raised 19,000 of the 29,000 total donated to the Food Bank. This year, the Food Bank hopes to bring in 50,000 pounds, and Ashley Ridge aims to give half of that.

“Ashley Ridge’s enthusiasm is certainly infectious,” said Kosar. “They have really embraced this initiative and put so much effort into it.”

She said 15 schools are competing this year, holding events such as car washes, silent auctions, campouts, dances, talent shows and more.

“Sometimes schools do things and don’t tell us about it,” Kosar said. “The important thing is that they do the events.”

Schools compete in divisions depending on whether they have more or less than 700 students. The winner of each division will receive $1,000, and the runner-up gets $500. Kosar said the prize money is donated by sponsors.

Ashley Ridge donates prize money back to the food bank.

The six-week drive kicked off Sept. 27 with a party at the food bank, where Ashley Ridge students won a skit contest for “Drop It in the Box,” a parody of Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It like it’s Hot.”

The drive ends with schools turning in their stashes at the food bank on Nov. 7 and 8 an awards party on Nov. 8.