MOLINE, Ill. — It's another record-breaking year for a Quad Cities hunger drive. The 37th Student Hunger Drive closed with a final rally at the Spotlight Theater.
In total, 17 schools donated 818,468 meals to the River Bend Food Bank, breaking 2022's record of 817,038 meals.
Students began collecting the donations on Oct. 2 and finished Nov. 9, with each school competing to see who could give the most food. Schools were separated by divisions based on number of enrolled students.
One of the schools coming out on top was Alleman High School, which got first place in Division B.
Team member Maci Massa has done the hunger drive all four years he's been a student at Alleman. "No one can imagine what someone goes through, and it makes a huge impact what we do," Massa said.
Alleman's students hosted some fun events to support their food drive. "We do Trick-or-Treat for cans, we do a taco night ... different things like that to help in our community," Massa said.
That included a dodgeball tournament, where 96 students each gave five canned goods to play.
Senior Danny Darrow also helped through all four of his years. "It's really satisfying to know that we're ending off on a win," Darrow said.
Darrow also wanted to give some advice to future competitors.
"I didn't know what I was getting into freshman year, but I know that it was gonna make a better impact on the community so ... I'd let them know to just join," he said.
"This stuff is happening not only in our community, but a lot of it is within our own school," advisor Mar Wetherell said. "To get them involved, it gets personal and it's amazing how these kids pull together."
The winners for this 2023 year were:
Division C (up to 299 enrolled students)
- 1st place — Morning Star Academy
- 2nd place — Rivermont Collegiate
Division B (300 to 1,250 enrolled students)
- 1st place — Alleman High School
- 2nd place — Orion High School
Division A (over 1,250 enrolled students)
- 1st place — Pleasant Valley High School
- 2nd place — Bettendorf High School
Most Improved Award — Davenport West High School
Mission Challenge Award (given for a written essay and presentation on how the school embodies the mission of the River Bend Food Bank) — Pleasant Valley High School