Tyler Street Christian Academy students joined together to support those in need during this time of the year through the annual school-wide canned food drive. Despite the recent weather conditions, which resulted in a 2-day school closure, students still managed to collect a total of 9,551 cans, tripling last year’s total.

The food drive, which ran from Nov. 18-Dec. 12, tasks all 190 students in K-12 grade levels with collecting at least four cans each for donation. Spearheaded by the school’s Meadows Foundation Charitable Awards Committee, the food drive integrates service-learning opportunities and classroom instruction. Participation in the food drive helps to develop Christ-like character in students, preparing them for a life of leadership and service to God and the community.

Collected items are delivered to Ray Truesdell, Community Service Director at Tyler Street United Methodist Church to fill Christmas food baskets for local families and also stock the church’s food pantry. Fortunately, due to the number of cans collected this year, donated food will also be shared with other local food pantries. 

This year, the senior class set out to collect more cans than the entire school last year; their challenging goal motivated the junior class to do the same. The senior class collected 2,879 cans, reaching their goal to collect more than the school last year, while the junior class collected 5,718 cans. Both classes made significant contributions to the canned food total.

The food drive success would not have been possible without help from TSCA students, families, teachers, staff and alumni. A very special thank you also goes to businesses that made contributions to the food drive including Kroger, United Renovations and Vanguard Electrical Services.