Johnston High’s SADD chapter collects food for families in need

HELPING HANDS: These are some of the Johnston High School students who helped collect a record number of canned goods during last week’s special Thanksgiving Food Drive conduced by SADD. President Sophia Ferrario is at left front, vice president Michael Mardo is seated at center, and secretary Mia Quirini is at right.

Sun Rise photos by Pete Fontaine

FOOD DRIVE: These are just some of the many canned goods Johnston High students collected last week.

Posted Friday, November 27, 2015 11:00 am

By Pete Fontaine

The conference room inside Johnston High School’s spacious library looked more like a supermarket stock room last Friday afternoon.

Almost every nook and cranny was filled with boxes that were piled high and contained hundreds upon hundreds of different canned goods.

And those canned goods – which will help put food on the tables of families in need at Thanksgiving – were collected in the school-wide canned goods drive conducted last week by the current members of Students Against Dangerous Decisions (SADD).

“It’s amazing to see all those canned goods,” Principal Zachary Farrell said. “All our students contributed to this drive. We’ve got a lot of great kids here at Johnston High, and they all came forward in this special time to help people in need.”

The canned goods drive is an annual Thanksgiving event at Johnston High, and it’s somewhat of a competition between all the homerooms in grades nine to 12 to see what group will collect the most.

“It’s refreshing to know that although we’re still in high school that we do anything we can to help families in need at Thanksgiving,” Sophia Ferrario, who serves as president of the SADD chapter. “We’re going to make people in need happy.”

When asked just how many canned goods SADD collected, Ferrario guessed there might be upwards of 1,000 canned goods, and perhaps more.

Ferrario said that she and fellow SADD officers like vice president Michael Mardo and secretary Mia Quirini will deliver box upon box of the canned goods to Our Lady of Grace Church, Sarah Dyer Barnes and Thornton elementary schools for families in need and in time for Thanksgiving.

Once all the canned goods are delivered – and the students take time out to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families – SADD will begin planning its annual Dodge Ball Tournament, which is set for Dec. 9 in Johnston High’s Edward L. DiSimone Gymnasium.

Teams will consist of four boys and four girls. A $5 entry fee will be used for prizes and other SADD projects such as the chapter’s annual Adopt a Family Program at Christmas.