It may be “the most wonderful time of the year” for most people, but for those who have nothing to eat, it is anything but wonderful. Fortunately, Olympus Jr. High students wanted to do their part in the fight against hunger with their sixth annual food drive. The school held a food donation drive from Nov. 5-19 to gather hundreds of food items to donate to the Utah Food Bank.  

According to the Utah Food Bank website, “444,000 Utahns, which equates to 1 in 6 Utahns, are at risk of missing a meal today. Even more alarming is that 1 in 5 Utah kids are unsure where their next meal is coming from.”

Olympus Jr. High students want to lower those odds with generous giving.

“The grade with the most donations wins doughnuts for their entire grade,” Student Body Adviser Cindy Fulton said. “This is the first year we are competing as grades; we usually have a home room competition.”

The competitive factor is working. When there was still one week left to donate, the ninth grade had donated 525 items, the seventh grade had donated 425 items and the eighth grade had donated 282 food items.

“This is the service component to our All For All/Spirit Week activities that we held from Nov. 20-25,” Fulton said. “The grades will also compete in a grade cheer and spirit competition, and for every 500 food items donated, each grade will receive one extra point on the cheer judging sheet.”

Spirit Week is for the students to show their school pride. Each day will have a dress-up theme such as Pajama Day, Super-Hero Day, Retro Day and Blue-And-White Day. The cheer competitions will take place on Blue-And-White Day, and the winning grade will then be announced. While one grade will be named the winner, it is really the food bank that will benefit.

“It is so rewarding to see youth in our state being so committed to helping those in need. Knowing that future generations of Utahns are concerned about the well-being of people within their own communities gives us hope that we can continue to fight hunger statewide until all of our friends and neighbors have access to three meals a day, every day,” Utah Food Bank Chief Development Officer Ginette Bott said.