East Participates in Annual Can Drive

Photo by Morgan Browning

The East community will participate in their annual can drive that benefits the Johnson County Christmas Bureau (JCCB) from Nov. 1 to Nov. 18 led by student council. The goal of the can drive is simple: raise money and food to help benefit local families. The JCCB is an organization that provides warmth to low income Johnson County families and allows them to shop for clothing and food during the cold winter season, according to the JCCB website.

StuCo is beginning to finalize their fundraising activity plans. They hope to take back their spot as the top can and money raiser for the JCCB in the Shawnee Mission School District, after taking fourth last year.

Every year the JCCB asks all of the Shawnee Mission Schools to have some sort of can drive or fundraising event. For a little less than 20 years, East has been the school that has brought in the most money and cans. However last year, Northwest, West and South all raised more.

Student body president Mazie Brooke thought that last year the student body was unaware of the activites taking place and that is why East didn’t raise as much as usual. She thought that there were a lot of little events, like fifth hour competitions, going on and people didn’t know what was going on.

Last year, Sophomore Emily Cooper volunteered to dress up in a can costume before a football game, hoping people will donate money to the JCCB. However, even getting there 45 minutes early, they only raised a few dollars.

“I don’t give money to every charity or fundraiser in the world,” Cooper said, “But it was kind of sad to see that no one really seemed to care about the people the money was going towards.”

This year, StuCo hopes to have more enjoyable, unique events. Each grade on StuCo will plan an event that aims to attract the whole school and get students to donate. Current ideas include a Breakout KC remake and a trivia night. Students would have to pay or bring cans or money to participate in these events. JCCB accepts money also and every dollar is equivalent to two cans.

Brooke said that the organization that benefits from this money and food wasn’t emphasized enough last year: without schools and other donors, many families that rely on the JCCB wouldn’t get necessary food and clothing around the holiday season.

With hopes of raising 25,000 total cans, StuCo hopes to get back to that number one Shawnee Mission School donor. From here on out, they will be planning, publicizing and encouraging students to help their school collect.

“This year we want to get across a message as to why you should take part in [the can drive],” Brooke said. “It is more than just a competition. We want to make sure that everyone understands where it goes and how it helps.”