LHS students competed in a fun way to donate food to the La Grande community during December. Class of 2026 Senior Class Officers organized the LHS Food Drive. We caught up with these seniors to talk about the effort: Elizabeth Carpenter, Malaika Gitome, Adelaide Grigg, Emersyn Miller, and Stephanie Schlegel.
They shared there hasn’t been an organized food drive at the school for a while, so they were excited to take it on. To generate more interest, they made it into a competition between the different grade levels – freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Students can donate any food for one point each and there are designated foods each day worth two points each.
The goal is 800 points. If the school reaches that goal, Assistant Principal Sam Fiorito will bleach the ends of his hair. If they reach 1000 points, they will bleach Fiorito’s whole head of hair, and if they double their goal, they will bleach his hair and put a blue tiger paw print on it.
The winning class gets a prize like ice cream or breakfast.
Half of the food donations will go to community organizations in La Grande and the other half to the LHS food pantry for students.
“This is a big push to give back to our community because so many people step up and help us achieve,” Carpenter said, “and food is a real need for many families right now.”
Miller added, “This community has fostered us our whole lives and it’s a nice way to end our high school career.”