MOORPARK : Students’ Food Drive for Needy Nets 500 Cans

They looked a little old for trick-or-treating, but the Moorpark High School students weren’t out for candy on Halloween night. They were collecting canned goods for the needy.

Thursday, to show off the food they had collected, they stacked the cans in towers reaching almost over their heads.

“It’s a chance for high schoolers to go out and trick or treat,” said Will Donley, a history teacher and Key Club director at the school. “They’re not that interested in candy, but they have a chance to perform a public service.”

The school collected about 500 cans, which will be distributed to the needy by the Moorpark Kiwanis Club. Last year, the Key Club collected about 50 cans, but this year members invited other clubs to compete in the collection. Members of the school’s California Scholastic Federation, and MEChA chapter joined the food drive and competed in the tower-building contest Thursday. The Key Club built the highest tower.

Donley said he hopes to make the Halloween collection an annual event and to get the word out early so residents will be ready to give cans when the students come knocking.