A can-do attitude: San Mateo High students hope to collect 300K pounds in food donations

A dip in the economy means more people need help and generating donations can be difficult — a challenge San Mateo High School students are realizing firsthand during their annual canned food drive.

The student effort to collect food for locals has created record-breaking results in years past. This year, San Mateo students are hoping to collect 300,000 pounds of food through their effort Mission: Possible, CANcel Hunger. As of Monday, the count was at 25,000 pounds of food. That doesn’t yet include donations from over the weekend, which will be counted today. Food donations go to Second Harvest Food Bank. Any money donated is given to Samaritan House. Each $1 donation is equal to 4 pounds in food.

Community Service Commissioner Steven Pantuso, 17, said the group is hoping Tuesday’s count will result in the count hitting or exceeding 100,000 pounds of food.

That leaves a lot of ground to cover in a week. On Monday, Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, stopped by to donate 33 cans to the effort.

"The sad part about the area we live in is most people look at ... the area we live in and think of it as successful. We are ... but we also have very large areas of poverty, people struggling with hunger, that don’t get recognized,” Hill said.

Community Service Commissioner Eric Hu, 17, explained the challenge this year has been finding locations at which students can spend time collecting donations. Despite having fewer locations, students are still collecting donations both after school and on weekends at a handful of locations throughout the Peninsula.

In 2005, the organized food drive collected 372,000 pounds of food for Samaritan House and Second Harvest Food Bank and set a new Guinness World Record. As the economy took a dip, so did donations, Pantuso said. Despite this, the teens are optimistic that the community can meet the goal.

Community members who wish to donate can bring canned food or monetary donations to San Mateo High School, 506 N. Delaware St., San Mateo, from 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Monetary donations are tax-deductible and checks should be made out to "Samaritan House.” Donations can also be made online at www.smhscfd.com. For more information about ways to donate email smhs.communityservice@gmail.com.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by email: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.