National Honor Society is a club dedicated to building student leadership skills and improving local communities, usually through fundraisers and volunteering. Many projects are done in groups as opposed to individually, and besides the obvious practicality of this method, the club has a specific reason for helping others together.

“It increases the bonds of the group and makes people feel like they’re part of a group,” club sponsor Robin Smith said.  

In the spirit of working together and helping the people around them, 13 NHS members collected canned food for the nonprofit Flinthills Breadbasket on Nov. 23. In total, they collected about 200 cans, or 220 pounds of food.

Students met in the nurse’s office at 6 p.m., divided into four groups and set off to whatever neighborhoods they chose.

“It was pretty fun because you got to go out with your friends and just go to people that you know,” senior Yusef Ciftci said.

They went door-to-door for roughly an hour, collecting an average of about 50 cans per group.  

“I like going to all the houses and collecting stuff, and I like talking to people,” junior Kendra Geisbrecht said. “We filled up so many of our plastic bags one time … they gave us eight cans and then we were walking away from their house and our bag actually like ripped open. All our cans went out. It was really fun though.”

Afterward, the students regrouped in the nurse’s office. Smith counted the cans collected by each group and announced which group had obtained the most.

“[Members of the winning group] got candy bars,” Smith said. “They had 70-some cans, and the next group had about 45.”

The NHS members also ate the pizza and ice cream Smith had provided and talked for about an hour and a half, leaving Manhattan High around 8:30.

“It’s good for kids to be able to do service projects together like and then have some friendship time also,” Smith said.

Why did NHS execute the drive?

“[I organized it] to benefit families,” Smith said. “[It is important for students to volunteer] to better appreciate their blessings and to give of their time.”

Additionally, Key Club has made several posters around the school advertising a can drive MHS is conducting through Advisory Period classes.

“The officers chose this as a service project,” Key Club sponsor Laura Sapp said. “[Club members] came and made them during Advisory and then put them up around the school.”

The drive ends Dec. 14, and students are encouraged to donate basic canned goods to help out people in Manhattan and the surrounding area less fortunate than themselves.