Loving Our Neighbor

I sat down with the National Honor Society (NHS) cabinet of students and faculty leaders to learn a little more about the food drive put on at Bear Creek every fall. The food drive started when NHS began as a community service program at Bear Creek. The food drive has now become a service tradition and is a rallying point for the entire school. Preschool through grade 12 students all get involved!

Food is collected during the last week of October at both Redmond Campus and Valley Campus. The record for the most food ever collected within one week at Bear Creek was six tons of food! The food that Bear Creek collects gets delivered directly to the food bank at Hopelink in downtown Redmond. The volunteers there sort it and set it up like a grocery store. Hopelink has two specific food programs that helps families and individuals in need. One is demonstrated need, where people shop based on quantifiable need. The other program is where any person can come and get a bag of groceries without any questions asked.

Since the beginning of the House system two years ago, collecting cans has become a House competition in the Upper School. House involvement has increased participation because it has helped underclassmen get more involved.

House encourages students to collect as many cans as possible. The best way to collect cans for the food drive is trick-or-canning where students go to their neighbors and ask for food contributions. Another way to collect lots of cans is to set up a stand at the front of a grocery store and ask people to pick up particular items when they go into the store to shop.

NHS is very passionate about the reason behind the food drive: Jesus tells us and calls us to love our neighbors. Part of loving our neighbor is helping those who don’t have as much as we do. The city of Redmond has so many families that benefit from the work that Hopelink does, and we are proud to partner with them for our annual food drive. Throughout this week, I encourage all students and families to get involved in the food drive at Bear Creek. This is an important opportunity for us to give back to the community and support families in need, just as Jesus called us to do.