On the morning of April 19, the leaders of the GFS Community Involvement group—Laura Biester ’12, Cary Anne Kane ’13, Allison O'Connor ’13 and Anna Sacks ’13—reported to the Philabundance headquarters in South Philadelphia for Shire's 2012 Great Food Fight! winners’ press conference. Seven schools had been invited to learn the results of this year’s region-wide, high school food-drive competition benefiting Philabundance; in a two-week period, the 21 schools that participated collected a total of 71 tons of food for people in need.
“This is the most successful food drive in Delaware County,” Philabundance’s Marianne Lynch told the expectant crowd. “The need for food assistance has increased by 26 percent in the past year in the communities we serve. You collected enough food to feed three sold-out crowds at Citizens Bank Park.”
Germantown Friends beat out seven other Philadelphia schools to win the $1,000 prize for collecting the most food in Philadelphia County, with a total of 12,714 pounds. The grand prize of $10,000 (which GFS won last year) went to Owen J. Roberts High School in Chester for collecting the most food overall: 20,270 pounds.
“[The Great Food Fight!] is really about the thousands of families who will benefit from the donations, that’s what’s most important,” said Ann Judge of Shire, which sponsored the food drive. She went on to tell the students, “You rallied your communities. You’re an inspiration to us, your parents, your communities and your peers. You embraced this challenge and accomplished something truly amazing. You’ve brought something else here today, too: hope.”
In addition to the awards ceremony, the students participated in a food packing session, where they got to sort and pack the food collected during the Food Fight.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of this year’s Great Food Fight! It was a true communal effort.