CALABASAS : Student Food Fight Helps the Hungry

Students at Calabasas High School waged a ferocious food fight on campus for two weeks.

But they weren’t throwing food. They were collecting it to see who could gather the most items for the needy.

The friendly rivalry has become a tradition for students and their homeroom teachers, who face off each year to see whose students can collect the most food, said Jonathan Oringher, a senior.

Teachers go all out to win the competition, which this year lasted from Dec. 5 to 15, Jonathan said. “One of the English teachers stored all the cans in cabinets, so nobody knew how much his class had.”

Lee Shagin, who teaches U. S. government, won the contest, according to the Calabasas High School Student Council, which organized the drive. His students collected 3,042 items of food.

The school collected 9,491 items in all, apparently breaking a record, according to the council. In second place was Lorraine Meyer, a senior English teacher whose students collected 2,051 cans. Anna Blount, a Spanish teacher, came in third with 1,539 items.

Students collected the food from their homes, neighbors, friends and supermarkets. The food goes to a Los Angeles-based organization called Love Is Feeding Everyone (LIFE), which distributes food to the needy.

The activity serves a two-fold purpose in that it helps the needy and introduces students to volunteer work, said Lindsay Weissbach, a senior.

“When I was a 10th-grader, we had a similar competition, with good results,” she said.

“We went door-to-door asking for cans and it really got people involved and enthused.”

She said that activity inspired her so much that she joined with two other students, Traci Craig and Jennifer Wan, to form Interact, part of a nationwide student organization dedicated to helping charitable causes.

Calabasas Interact, which is affiliated with the Calabasas Rotary Club, has helped out at the Calabasas Days Pumpkin Festival.

Members have also donated time to such causes as the Rotary’s Thanksgiving Senior Citizen Luncheon and the city’s “Let It Snow” day.