Westside’s Marketing 2 students are currently working on their semester projects, and some of these projects are focused on giving back to the community. Seniors Brett Thorell and Cole Payton set up a food drive for their project. Business instructor Kalen Carlson said she hopes the project will have a positive impact on Westside’s community.

“I know if you listen to the news, you hear about all the different food banks around the country that have been struggling to keep up, so I’m sure Westside’s could be similar,” Carlson said. “Mostly, I hope it helps people who need it.” 

Carlson said Thorell and Payton created their project to make up for the lack of donations to the food drive this year.

“I think they saw an opportunity to help out,” Carlson said. “We talked about how since [DECA] didn’t get to do Powderbuff and Powderpuff this fall, this would be a way to make up for it.”

Thorell said the project is aimed to help the Westside community.

“Me and Cole came up with the idea to choose a community giving project and we thought it would be a good idea to help Westside,” Thorell said. “Mrs. Carlson [helped us] us put it together.”

Usually, Westside events are a good source of donations for the pantries, but this year without DECA activities, there aren’t as many opportunities to encourage people to donate.

“Our goal is to gather a bunch of food and goods for the holidays,” Payton said. “Especially without Powderpuff, donations are needed more this year.”

There was a donation station at Phelps Field on Friday, Nov. 6 during the football game. Thorell said the food drive had a good turnout. 

“We collected about 6 large boxes of food, it was really successful,” Thorell said.