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21 Friday , N ovem ber 19, 2010 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF They called on their fellow stu- dents to work harder than ever before to gather food for the needy, but couldnt have imagined the response they would get. Abbey Park High School Grade 12 students Marissa Ponn and Aunima Bhuiya were honoured by their school Thursday for organizing the highly successful food drive, Halloween 4 Hunger. The event, which took place Halloween night, saw students can- vass a total of 5,600 homes and col- lect enough food to fill a 24-foot truck and seven vans. All of this food was donated to Oakvilles Fareshare food bank where it will help feed the more than 300 local families, who use the food bank each month. Speaking in unison, Ponn and Bhuiya thanked the student body, during the schools Fall Recognition Assembly, for everything they had done to make the food drive a wild success. We challenged you all to reach higher than ever before. We asked you all to make a huge difference in your community and Abbey Park, you answered, said Ponn and Bhuiya to the applause of their peers. Four years ago our school record had 47 groups visit 5,200 houses and collect 15 vans of food. Thats pretty amazing, but this year we beat that record. With 37 groups going to 5,600 houses we collected an entire 24-foot truck and seven vans of food (an estimated 25 vans worth in total) and we could not be anymore proud. Abbey Park Principal Maria McLellan also expressed her pride at what had been accomplished with the food drive and applauded Ponn and Bhuiya for pulling it off. I was absolutely amazed at their organization and their drive and their gathering of so many students to do this job, she said. It was phenomenal and I just want to thank these two young women. When asked about their inspira- tion for undertaking this food drive, Bhuiya said she and Ponn had been present at a We Day event in Toronto hosted by Craig Kielburger. The Canadian activists words made a lasting impression. After seeing that and hearing how we need to make a change in this world and alleviate hunger we just wanted to help out so much, said Bhuiya. Fareshare feeds over 300 families so they need a lot of help. We thought we could take up this challenge and show the differ- ence Abbey Park could make, said Ponn. We wanted to set our goals really high. We wanted to break the school record and we did it. Ponn and Bhuiya began organiz- ing the food drive in October. They raised awareness by sending out messages to Abbey Park student Internet forums, hanging posters, handed out flyers and holding infor- mation meetings. At these information meetings students told them what streets they would be canvassing for food dona- tions and how many houses they were planning on going to. We really werent expecting much because we only had about 30 people at each of our info meetings, said Ponn. In the end, however, those who attended the meetings only repre- sented a fraction of the students who were participating in Halloween 4 Hunger with 37 groups comprising of between four and five students each, taking to the streets Halloween night. Bhuiya said one group of four actually canvassed 600 houses in one night. All of the food collected was brought to the Abbey Park High School parking lot the following day at which point it was loaded and taken to Fareshare food bank. The sheer volume of food that arrived at the parking lot amazed Ponn and Bhuiya. It was very heartwarming, said Ponn. We were not expecting to fill that truck. Maybe halfway, three quarters of the way, but then when it was filled there was still food on the sidewalk. I was just like, Ahhhhhh! the entire day, said Bhuiya. I wanted to cry and I think I did cry a bit. With one successful event behind them Ponn and Bhuiya said they are planning another food drive for May to help Fareshare get through the May-November period when dona- tions are not as high. Abbey Park set new record for Halloween 4 Hunger DAVID LEA / OAKVILLE BEAVER HALLOWEEN 4 HUNGER: Aunima Bhuiya and Marissa Ponn were the organizers of Abbey Park High School's Halloween 4 Hunger.