Holidays-the time of serious stressing, drowning in debt, and problematic party planning. Despite these negative conditions of this holiday season, most people cannot help feeling depressed once it’s all over. Most likely, this is due to the fact that the cheer and kindness spread at this time easily overshadow the issues that can arise. But the holidays are not all just about spending money and exchanging presents. Whether a person is Catholic or Jewish or any other faith, he or she can enjoy the simple pleasure of a simple, stress-free activity of donating food to people that need it.

 
To embrace the spirit of the season, Freehold Township’s Octagon Club is giving back to the community by hosting their annual food drive. In October, each homeroom received one box to hold the cans brought in by students. The Octagon club utilizes homerooms to run the food drive in order to raise as many donations as possible. Each homeroom is expected to fill at least one box, and the homeroom that has the most boxes filled by the end of the food drive wins a free bagel breakfast, paid for by FTHS staff.

 
Ms. Galinski’s and Mrs. O’Neil’s homerooms were the top two contributors to the food drive last year, and for the previous years as well. Mrs. O’Neil does not have a homeroom this year, but Ms. Galinski’s class may still have some competition, for some homerooms are determined to win this year! Because of these determined students like these, the Octagon Club was able to collectively raise 8589 pounds of food last year for the FoodBank, which is located in Neptune.

 
The nonperishable food is delivered to the FoodBank prior to Thanksgiving, so families in need are able to thoroughly enjoy the food and have their own feasts. Although it is customary of the holiday season, food donations are always needed and appreciated. The Monmouth/Ocean counties serve two large counties. Therefore, the demand for cans is high, since people come in everyday looking for food.
Some key items the food drive needs include boxed meals (potatoes, pasta), canned soup, canned vegetables/fruit, and peanut butter. In order to make this year’s food drive successful as last year’s, every student should pitch in. Not only will the students be supporting a great cause, they could also have a shot at winning a free breakfast!

FTHS’s National Honors Society is helping to contribute to the Octagon Club’s food drive as well. For the first time ever, NHS is hosting a kickboxing class to “knock out hunger”. The class is right after school until 4:30 PM, and admission costs one can or boxed food item. All of the cans collected are being combined with the food gathered from the food drive.

 
This is a great opportunity to take if you enjoy kickboxing, want to benefit the community, or even just want to release all of the pent-up holiday stress consuming your mind. Plus, this class counts as an hour of community service! Possible future NHS members should keep that in mind. You can sign up for this event during lunch or email NHS advisors [email protected] or [email protected].

Happy holidays!