The 28th annual Student Hunger Drive officially began Monday night with a kickoff party and talent competition. A skit by Quad City Christian School students won the school 2,000 pounds of food to jumpstart their collecting efforts.
Over the past 28 years, the Student Hunger Drive has raised more than 15 million pounds of food for the River Bend Foodbank.
"River Bend Foodbank distributes about 3.3 million pounds of food per year, and the Student Hunger Drive is a huge donor, one of the largest single donors to the Foodbank," said Student Hunger Drive executive director Denise Hester.
Last year alone, students brought in 767,455 pounds of food during the drive.
"Teenagers get labeled sometimes. I think this kind of shows everybody that we can make a difference," said Jacob Schmeichel, an eighth grader at Morning Star Academy.
Monday's talent competition included singing, dancing, cheers, flips and lip sync performances. Many students changed the words of popular songs to reflect the Hunger Drive theme -- "One can make a difference."
"It's something fun to involved in and help other people out," said Moline High School sophomore Maddie Dickey.
Over the next six weeks, students from 19 area high schools will see which school can collect the most food. Each school has unique events planned to bring in donations.
"We're doing powderpuff, which is like a girl's football team. They have a game, and that's fun," said Tayler Upton of Moline.
"What we're doing is peanut butter and jelly time, and the teacher that gets the most peanut butter and jelly gets a free dinner from us," explained a group of Davenport West students.
The Student Hunger Drive ends on Thursday, November 7th with the Finale Rally. To donate to the drive, click here.