ALBERTON – Approximately 900 pounds of food were collected by students at Alberton Pubic School for the third annual Business Professionals of America food drive.

While BPA is a high school club, all grades of the school participated in the drive. According to Ryan Vicek, BPA president at Alberton High School, the fourth grade class brought in approximately 200 pounds of food with ninth graders not far behind. This put the fourth graders as the first place class for donations collected with the ninth graders in second. Vicek felt the drive was a success and the Alberton community played a large part in it.

“I really think the school stepped up,” said Vicek. “It comes back to the community members…I think the community was very open to giving back.”

The fourth graders won a pizza and movie party. The runners up will get a rootbeer float party, served by BPA members. At the time of the interview, plans for the parties had not been scheduled.

Kent Haad, BPA advisor for Alberton, said the amount of food the school raised was impressive. He felt it was great for Alberton’s fourth graders, with less than 20 students in the whole class, to have collected so much food.

All of the food collected was donated to the Alberton Food Pantry. According to Haab, students decorated the boxes to hold the food. These boxes were displayed on the cafeteria stage for the duration of the drive. Vicek said the donations were delivered Monday, November 25 before the pantry opened.

The BPA is a club within high schools and works with students to prepare for the business world. The club holds classes, events and projects, like the food drive, to provide students with experience in business operations. According to Haab, skills such as use of computer software, programming and others are taught through BPA projects.

This was the third year for the food drive. According to Haab, the drive was started when the BPA needed a community project. The food pantry was fairly new and not much was known about the demand it faced. A BPA member heard about the shortages and suggested the club help the pantry.

“It’s good to see our kids recognize a problem and then do something as a group to alleviate [it],” Haab said.

Vicek recalled how past years were very successful and saw large donations. She said the food drive went for two and a half weeks. Most of the donations were canned goods. However, Vicek said all non-perishable goods, baking supplies and similar items were accepted as well.

“There were no potatoes or anything,” said Haab. “It was all straight products.”

While the BPA was in charge, Vicek said club members Laura Bush and Michaela Tomlinson ran the drive. According to Vicek, this was a big accomplishment as both are new members with little experience.

“This was their first year doing it and their first year in BPA,” she said.

With the holidays approaching, this willingness to give back could help everyone as food pantry support moves through the community.