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As February came to a close, so did the month-long charity competition: The Canned Food Drive. The canned food drive, which is run by Masterman’s Student Government Association, occurs annually and involves the collection of canned goods and hygiene products. Students who bring goods can attain crucial points for their corresponding Spirit Week team. Each canned good is worth one point, while each hygiene product is worth two. The team with the most points will win 150 Spirit Week points. Perhaps a 2022 Blue Team member can recall a loss in this annual event—and a loss in the totality of Spirit Week—while the White Team can remember a victory in both. But the cans and home essentials—which last year summed to over 1,000—do more than count towards Spirit Week; they help feed and stock a household.
Photo courtesy of Mariacristina Calcagno (10-1)
The products go to Feast of Justice (FoJ), a local food pantry in Northeast Philadelphia, whose goal, according to its website, is “A world in which food security, life skills, and a supportive community abounds for all.” Each day, volunteers—you can sign up to be one, too—gather to combat Philadelpia’s food insecurity crisis; the majority of the people staffing shifts either work in distributing products or stocking.
The distribution routine at FoJ goes as follows: guests line up outside the doors, are seated in a waiting area, are then called up by assigned numbers to be checked in, and grab a shopping cart to choose from a multitude of necessities. First stop: dairy—milk is a popular item. Next, the protein, with a variety of options hoping to please all pallets. Produce follows, followed by grab-and-go meals and a dessert item. Then, off to the dry goods. Each family is allotted a certain amount of “points” that determine the quantity of food they can take home, that is then weighed so that FoJ knows what they need to stock to meet demand. FoJ’s organized system has yielded change; its 2021 report stated that a total of 1.47 million pounds of food were brought to families’ homes over 35,125 “household visits”.
While the canned food drive succeeds in fostering healthy competition within the school, it also highlights the food insecurity crisis in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is one of the poorest highly-populated cities in the United States. According to the US Census, Philadelphia’s poverty rate is 22.3% — around double the national average. In August of 2022, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that, across the Philadelphia region, 10% of households suffer from food insecurity, and 71% of these food-insecure households make a yearly income below the federal poverty line. The article also highlighted that food insecurity in Philadelphia disproportionately affects people of color, reflecting the inadequate conditions experienced by victims of systemic racism. According to Feeding America, a lack of food does more than make your stomach growl; access to nutritious food impacts mental and physical well-being and brain development. In school-age children, the effects of hunger can be severe; young children are more at risk to develop chronic illnesses such as asthma and anemia, and behavioral problems such as hyperactivity, anxiety, and aggression. Cyrus Fisher (10-2) commented on how food impacts his ability to function as a student: "When I don't eat, I feel tired, I feel empty — emotionally and physically — and drained." While often taken for granted, something as simple as a can of soup can go a long way.
Beyond gaining you Spirit Week points, the goods you donate have a large impact: helping local families and working towards alleviating the hunger crisis in Philadelphia.
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