During the month of November, many students at Smoky Hill are anticipating Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, there are several families in the SHHS community and the local community that are dreading the holiday. There are numerous families locally, that are wondering how to afford a Thanksgiving feast. Chad Fredrick and other members of NHS(National Honor Society) were taking up the responsibilities of the annual Food Drive at Smoky Hill.

The food that the SHHS community gathers is donated to local families in need of items for a Thanksgiving dinner. Just a few items of many that were collected included: fried onion rings, canned vegetables, marshmallows, and soup. While these items can’t completely make up a feast, they are small things that everyone can donate to make a difference.

There are several factors that go into making the Smoky Hill Thanksgiving Food Drive successful. A very imperative element to this event is the “Miracle Minute”. The money raised during this magical minute is used to buy other food that cannot be raised by the food drive.

“As a whole, Smoky Hill was able to raise $1,500 during the Miracle Minute,” Fredrick said.

While NHS was able to raise a significant amount of money and food donations, the principal, Mr. Puga, had much higher aspirations for Smoky Hill.

“At first, there weren’t as many donations because there wasn’t a lot of advertisement,” Fredrick said, “As students always wait until the last minute to do anything, so of course, they donate items later.”

To Fredrick, the food drive means so much more to him than just collecting items.

“To me, Thanksgiving is a time for people to get together and be happy with their friends and family,” said Fredrick.

Fredrick is passionate about the food drive because he wants to give local families a chance to have normal Thanksgiving. By doing the food drive, it gives everyone a chance to contribute holiday cheer to the community in some way. To him, it allows families to be happy with one another.