[media-credit id=176 align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]The ‘Yes We Can’ food drive is a volunteer food group that is dedicated to doing everything they can to help the people of Merced. The food that is donated is received by the crisis ministry in Merced County.

This year volunteers have collected 17,521 lbs. of donated items for The Crisis Ministry. Yes We Can Food Drive now provides 15% of the food that The Crisis Ministry distributes each month to its 3,000 men, women and children.

FC students are being asked to help out this cause by donating canned food and help in any way they can. Donations will be accepted from Nov. 17 – Dec. 9.

The FC community is encouraged to donate as much canned food as possible, in order to help less fortunate people throughout Fresno and surrounding cities. In the past years FC has donated enough to feed over 200 people. Students look forward to this opportunity to donate to the less fortunate.

Sophomore Hannah Nale shows how she feels about the food drive and feels it helps the community in many different ways.

“I know about the food drive because I?m part of the people who are in charge.” Nale said. “I am definitely going to participate in it this year because its a great way to get involved in your community and knowing that lots of people who don’t have dinner or Thanksgiving, I mean why not? I am definetly going to give mashed potatoes and gravy because that like my favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving. I will take part in doing this more in the future.”

Freshmen Roman Endicott is excited to participate in the Yes We Can food drive to try and make a difference.

“I am participating in the Yes We Can food drive because I think that it is a good way to give food to people who don’t have any,” Endicott said. “It makes me feel like I?m making a difference in the community. I?ll just probably give general canned foods. I learned through all of this that if we come together as a community then we can save lives and make a huge difference. In the future I will definitely be part of more food drives.”

Freshman Erin Wilson likes how she can be apart of the food drive this year.

“I am also involved in the food drive because its good to help people who aren?t as fortunate as you and it would be a really nice thing to do,” Wilson said. “I know I?m helping someone eat who otherwise does not have food. I will mainly just donate canned assorted vegetables to help this cause

“The most important thing about all of this is that you can instead of thinking of yourself you can think and give to the less fortunate people. My advice to everyone is to keep doing this through their High school years because this is one of the great things to get involved in.”

Food drive items needed:
— Potatoes
— Canned vegetables (multiple varieties)
— Canned fruit (multiple varieties)
— Spaghetti Sauce
— Tuna
— Beef ravioli
— Soup (multiple varieties)
— Cereal (multiple varieties)
— Apple sauce
— Peanut Butter
— Spaghetti
— Mac and Cheese
— Canned Beans
— Eggs
— Milk

Follow The Feather via Twitter @thefeather and Instagram @thefeatheronline. These writers can be reached via Twitter: @nate10messi and @devin_pitts1735.

For more features, read the Nov. 17 article, Citizens compare pros and cons of flu vaccinations.