As many of you may have noticed, AVID students organized a canned food and clothing drive on campus in February to give back to the community and those in need. The minds behind this immensely successful project were Harley Gonzalez, Dominic Arredondo, and Judah Adams, three Chandler students searching for an idea to better their community. As Gonzalez, Arredondo, and Adams explained, the drive started as a group project about “The Spirit of Giving.” The entire class was asked to brainstorm ideas to help the Chandler community. These included giving to the homeless and collecting donations. Eventually, these three students landed on the idea of hosting a canned food and clothing drive on campus to support local community organizations.

This drive ended up becoming so popular and successful that they were even requested to extend it another week beyond their original end date! Dominic explained, “Due to a sudden influx of canned goods, they said, ‘We need you to stay one more week, ’cause we have so much more to give you.’ We possibly might even extend it more.”

All of the clothes donated to the drive were transported to the One Small Step Clothes Cabin, a local clothing bank in Gilbert, and the canned goods were donated to the Chandler CARE Center Food Bank. After items are delivered to these locations, these community partners will distribute them to those in need. In the end, it’s amazing that our school provides opportunities like this to normal kids willing to make a change.

Learn more about One Small Step at www.onesmallstepaz.org/
Learn more about Chandler CARE Center at https://www.cusd80.com/carecenter