On their own, each of the district's 13 JROTC units gathered thousands of pounds of nonperishable food items for donation.
Together, they amassed close to 40,000 pounds of food - 38,208 to be exact - as part of the JROTC annual holiday food drive. The drive is part of the JROTC Service Learning Project to support the city in collecting food during the holiday season.
"Seeking canned foods and other nonperishable food item donations throughout their communities, our students have set out to help others that are in need during the holiday season and learn the importance of service to others," said JROTC Program Manager Tim Swann.
The items collected go to various local charities, churches, and food banks to be distributed to families just before the holidays.
This year, the community service streamer, which goes to the school that collects the most donations, went to Point Loma High School. The students collected 15,359 pounds of food. Scripps Ranch High School was second with 5,576 pounds and Mira Mesa High School was third with 4,456 pounds.
The students would like to offer their utmost gratitude to all those who donated to the canned food drive as they lend a helping hand to our community.
Story submitted by Cadet/ Minhtam Nguyen of Mira Mesa High School