Delano High School’s Orange Crush robotics team held a weekend food drive, gathering food and cash donations to support local families in need. The team greeted shoppers at Coborn’s Marketplace on Saturday and Sunday, handing out lists of suggested donation items as customers entered the store. As shoppers left, team members collected soup, canned vegetables, pasta, cereal, and other goods.

Mike Phillips, one of the team’s coaches, said that members, coaches, parents, and even alumni came together to collect food for the Delano Helping Hands Food Shelf. Orange Crush has organized this drive in past years, although it’s unclear how often the event has taken place.

“We are here trying to do our part to help people out in the community,” Phillips said.

Orange Crush delivered both the food and cash donations to the food shelf on Sunday afternoon. The team collected a variety of essential items, including brand name cereals, soup, pasta, canned goods, coffee, brown sugar, and more for the food shelf’s clients.

Phillips noted that this year’s food drive was led by two team members who also belong to the National Honor Society. The event gave them an opportunity to earn service hours and gain valuable experience in planning a project.

“It’s a good thing to do,” Phillips said. “And it’s also good to have the kids realize that some of them are better off than others.”

After weighing the donations, the team 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.

“It’s amazing what the community does here for us,” said Sarah Hagen, co-director of the food shelf. She explained that Orange Crush’s annual food drive has become the food shelf’s biggest of the year. The items collected outside Coborn’s are especially valued because they are recently purchased, which means staff doesn’t need to worry as much about expiration dates compared to other donations.

Hagen also noted that food drives like Orange Crush’s bring in a wider variety of items than the food shelf typically receives from its supplier, Second Harvest. For example, the robotics team collected goods 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 added.

Evan Phillips, a senior and National Honor Society student, said he participated in the food drive to help the community and earn service hours. Although handing out fliers to shoppers could get tedious, he called the experience “rewarding.”

Team member Ian Eisenzimmer said he enjoyed meeting and talking with customers during the drive, and was glad to help collect food for neighbors in need.

“The part that made it so enjoyable for me was doing the food drive with my team,” the high school junior said. “It feels like a group effort, and it’s nice.”
https://www.glencoenews.com/articles/community-dhj/orange-crush-robotics-team-collects-2664-pounds-of-food-for-delano-food-shelf/