Delano High School’s Orange Crush robotics team held a weekend food drive, gathering food and cash donations for those in need. The team greeted shoppers at Coborn’s Marketplace on Saturday and Sunday, handing out lists of items shoppers could donate. Customers generously contributed soup, canned vegetables, pasta, cereal, and other goods as they left the store.
Mike Phillips, a team coach, shared that team members, coaches, parents, and even alumni helped collect food for the Delano Helping Hands Food Shelf. This drive is one that Orange Crush has organized in previous years, though its frequency is unclear. “We are here trying to do our part to help people out in the community,” Phillips said.
On Sunday afternoon, Orange Crush delivered both the collected food and cash donations to the food shelf. The donations included brand-name cereals, soup, pasta, canned goods, coffee, brown sugar, and other essential items for the food shelf’s clients.
Phillips highlighted that the food drive was led by two team members who are also part of the National Honor Society. He noted that the event provided these students with an opportunity to earn service hours and gain experience in project planning. “It’s a good thing to do,” he said. “And it’s also good to have the kids realize that some of them are better off than others.”
The team weighed their donations and reported collecting 2,664 pounds of food and $1,085 in cash. Last year, the team gathered 3,171 pounds of food for the food shelf.
Sarah Hagen, co-director of the food shelf, expressed her appreciation for the community’s support. “It’s amazing what the community does here for us,” she said. Hagen explained that Orange Crush’s annual food drive has become the food shelf’s biggest of the year. She also noted that items collected outside Coborn’s were recently purchased, reducing concerns about expiration dates compared to other donations.
Hagen added that food drives like Orange Crush’s bring in a wider variety of items than what the food shelf receives from its supplier, Second Harvest. The robotics team collected goods that Second Harvest doesn’t provide, such as soups and brown sugar. “It’s fantastic to get name brand cereals; those always go really quickly,” she said.
Senior and National Honor Society member Evan Phillips participated to help others and earn service hours. While he admitted that handing out flyers to shoppers was sometimes tedious, he described the overall experience as “rewarding.”
Junior team member Ian Eisenzimmer also shared his positive experience. He said it felt good to help collect food for the food shelf and that he enjoyed meeting and talking with customers. “It feels like a group effort, and it’s nice,” Eisenzimmer said. “That’s the part that made it so enjoyable for me.”
https://www.arlingtonmnnews.com/articles/community-dhj/orange-crush-robotics-team-collects-2664-pounds-of-food-for-delano-food-shelf/