Timpview FCCLA’s Food Drive Kickoff for Ukrainian Refugees

December 1st, 2022 /
Spencer Tuinei /
CTE, News, Safety and Security Campaign, Schools, Secondary Schools, Timpview High

Timpview is conducting a canned food drive from now until December, and, as always, you can expect FCCLA to soup up any service-oriented event.

For Timpview’s FCCLA group, students partnered with Lifting Hands International to create food kits for Ukrainian refugees. The kits contain canned meat, vegetables, fruit, and ready-to-eat soup, and go out to families primarily relocated to the United States.

For those unfamiliar, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is a Career and Technical Student Organization that functions as an integral part of the Family and Consumer Sciences education curriculum and operates within the school system. While advisors manage, direct, and counsel students, FCCLA students put the work into marketing, organizing, and holding service-based projects such as the food-drive kick-off.

The FCCLA classroom bubbled over in a convivial atmosphere; officers collected and stacked canned food, poured soup, and seated students as part of their canned food drive.

After grabbing a bowl of soup, students could enter a raffle to win candy bars after delivering soup bowls or purchase socks purchased from the We Help Two foundation. Every five-dollar pair of socks covers the three-dollar cost of the socks, with one dollar going to water projects in Africa (specifically the Water for Africa program) and a dollar to fund future FCCLA projects.

Halli Johnson, FCCLA President, shared details on the event.

“All of the advisors– myself included– make the soups. It’s a tradition to make soups with FCCLA. We thought it would pair well with the canned food service project.”

The FCCLA officers created flyers and relevant media to distribute around the school, announcing the event in their respective classes to generate interest, even using the smell of soup to market their kickoff event.

“Part of the event’s allure is that kids can smell your soup from down the hallway and will find their way to our classroom. It’s an easy way to reach out.”

Halli was right; students poured in after following the rich scent of their braises and stews on the whim that they might receive a meal. And, like their previous events and socials, FCCLA created a fruitful turnout.

FCCLA is gathering cans in preparation for their Christmas Extravaganza, an FCCLA-organized event (president Halli Johnson’s baby project) where clubs host booths and sell items. This year they’re hosting student musicians to perform in the Christmas Extravaganza, after which proceeds will go towards Sub For Santa donations and funds for future club activities.

FCCLA set a thousand can goal, and we’d like to extend an invitation to any readers near Timpview High School (or any secondary school, for that matter) to help students reach student canned-food goals before the end date on December 9th, 2022.

Overall, a soup social was more than fitting– soup is an age-old fare conveying community, and family. Watching students break bread, pour soup, and contribute to the pot of goods is a reminder that gratitude and service can transform a meal into a feast.

For those interested in donating to Timvpiew’s FCCLA drive, please bring canned goods to Timpview High School’s front desk on any Friday before December 9th, 2022 and place your donations in the FCCLA drop-off box.