Students at Kennedy High School continue to be committed to community service projects. Several projects were completed prior to the holidays and others are just getting under way.

The Kennedy Interact Club held a toothbrush/toothpaste drive to collect items for a remote village in Mexico. More than 2,500 items were collected from student donations and were sent to the village.

The Student Government organization sponsored a food bank drive, collecting over 600 items. The collection was sent to the local food banks as well as the Linn County Veteran’s organization.

The student government also adopted twenty-four families and sixteen other children for holiday gifts. More than half of the families are served by Four Oaks; other families are part of the Linn County Veteran’s organization and some are directly connected to Kennedy. The sixteen children are part of Four Oaks.

The Student Government organization gained support from local businesses and community leaders. In addition, members of Spanish classes assisted with the adoptions.

The annual ONE Campaign/Kids Against Hunger drive will begin in earnest in early February with the school-wide penny drive. The goal is to raise $10,000 and package 40,000 meals for families living in extreme poverty. Students at Kennedy have collected more than $50,000 over the past five years and used the funds to package more than 200,000 meals for families in Haiti.