“We are doing a Homelessness Awareness Month to increase awareness in our student body of the issue and that we can do something to make it better. We kicked off the month with an assembly about homelessness in Bay County, one for the middle school and one for the high school. We had a speaker from the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission come in and talk to our kids about the issue. We showed a YouTube video of a child talking about her experiences with homelessness, and read some testimonials from people who have struggled with homelessness.
Then we rolled out the food drive and explained what we would be collecting each day. Over the course of three weeks, the Student Council had teamed up with the National Honor Society to plan the food and item drive. It’s all been student led. They set up the assembly, collected the items, counted the donations received, and shared the results.
The amount of food and goods we’ve received – it’s mind blowing. Kids took ownership of the effort and I think it's been a really good thing for the students.”
–Michael Stoneback, English & Social Studies Teacher, Pinconning Middle/High School
“I'm a junior, part of the National Honor Society and Student Council. It's Homelessness Awareness Month and both the middle school and high school collected different items over the span of two weeks. We had ‘sock day’, and we’ve done days for canned and boxed food, hygiene products, and dental hygiene products. We also have ‘cash day’ just to get extra money in.We go to each classroom every morning to pick up the donations, and we’ve collected a huge amount of items.
I know a lot of schools aren't doing this, and we wanted to raise more awareness about this issue. It's a way to show people that there's a problem and that we can help by doing more.
I was aware of homelessness, but not aware of the size of the issue in Bay County. Collecting these donations will help, but there are so many more people that need help—not just homeless but also those in poverty.”
–Jordyn, Pinconning Middle/High School
“I’m 13 and on the student council. We’re participating in a donation drive where students donate things like food and socks so we can give those items to people that can’t afford them. Through this experience, I’ve learned that people need all sorts of things that they may not be able to buy.
I like to help people. It makes them feel better, and I feel better, too. I think we should all donate and help as much as we can, to get things to people in need.”
–Ethan, Pinconning Middle/High School
“I’m part of the student council because I like helping out the community and it's a great learning experience. This month, we collected donations to create awareness around homelessness. We are going from class to class collecting stuff, and we’ve had a huge turnout. So far, we’ve received canned and boxed food, socks, and clothing.
Drives like this are really helpful to all those people in need, and I've learned that we can really help impact our community.”
–Leah, Pinconning Middle/High School
“I’m part of the National Honor Society, and this month we’ve been picking up canned foods, box foods, hygiene products, and socks from every classroom every single day. It’s actually pretty difficult, but it’s fun and good to see the turnout we’re getting.
The first day we did canned foods, we had four stops and even though we have big carts, we completely filled them up and had to make multiple trips to pick everything up. You wouldn’t necessarily think that you would get such a big response from high school students, but we’ve gotten a lot of participation.
It makes me feel very proud. I’m proud of our school; that we’re doing something so important for other people and not just thinking of ourselves.”
–Kallie, Pinconning Middle/High School
“I’m the president of both the NHS, or National Honor Society, club and the student council club at my school.
This is Homelessness Awareness Month, so we started the month off with an informative assembly with information about homelessness and testimonials to kick off a food drive so that we could donate items to a food bank nearby. We’re also wearing purple on Fridays to show awareness for the homeless in our community.
Each day had a theme for donations, the first day was for canned food, then boxed food, personal hygiene products, socks, snacks, and oral hygiene products. And then we have ‘cash day’ on Friday to finish it off.
I feel it's important to do acts of service like this so that we can show people in the community that we know what they're going through and are willing to help them.
Before this month, I knew that homelessness was an issue, but I didn't know how big of an issue it was. I didn't realize how much it affected Bay County. Now I see that it affects everyone, including our community, and we want to bring that same awareness to others while we try to help.”
–Jacob, Pinconning Middle/High School
