The annual Holiday Food Drive at Forestdale has always brought smiles and warm meals to those in the community who need them most. This year, though, the drive had a twist: for the first time, it was organized and executed by Forestdale youths in the Preparing Youth for Adulthood Program.
Teens from the Forestdale Youth Advisory Board gathered together with the initiative and plan to take the canned food drive into their own hands, as their community service projects. With guidance from staff in Forestdale’s Preparing Youth for Adulthood Program, these young adults came together to make the necessary plans and orchestrate a very successful drive. They designed, created, and posted flyers announcing the drive, and got in touch with local community groups to raise awareness of the yearly event.
In addition, the teens made use of their own connections to reap a huge harvest of canned items. Several of the Forestdale teens participate in programs at the Cross Island YMCA Teen Center, which has a long history of donating food to causes such as the Can Drive. Because the teens at Forestdale are engaged in programs both here and at the Cross Island YMCA, they decided to reach out and connect the two organizations.
This prompted the Y to use its resources to help familiar families direct their donations to Forestdale. As opposed to previous years, when their donations went out to various facilities across the community, they decided to send this year’s food collection to the teens with whom they had an established relationship. Thus, the Y was able to connect faces to the donations it made this year. This connection resulted in huge donations, with a seemingly unending supply of canned foods coming into Forestdale.
The intangible gains from the drive’s success might actually outweigh the hundreds of cans, however. Forestdale’s Rick Furel explained, “It’s really a huge part of the learning process for the teens to witness the tangible results of their efforts. After the food started coming in, they were really encouraged to see the fruits of their labor.” The teens now feel that they can succeed by working as a team. Perhaps the most important lesson learned through their experiences with the drive is that goals do not have to be an abstract idea, but can be an attainable object.
The Forestdale teens enjoyed such a rich and rewarding experience with the 2009 Can Drive that they have expressed interest in continuing to perform community service going forward. Several teens continued in the spirit of outreach and offered their help at Forestdale’s Children’s Holiday Party. They plan to expand their work next year to include a coat drive and to volunteer at local soup kitchens during the holiday season. This year’s Food Drive truly has benefited more than just those receiving the canned foods.
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