Just some of the food collected.

AKRON — Student council members at Tippecanoe Valley High School are once again using their November service project as a way to give back to their community.

Students have been donating the ingredients to make a complete Thanksgiving meal to families throughout the district each fall since 2009. One family from each Tippecanoe Valley school along with two families from the high school were chosen for this year.

“We have grown over the years,” said Student Council Advisor Cami Shriver. “The first year it was just the high school. The second year we added the elementary schools. We then added the middle school, the Burket Educational Center, and now we’re helping two families at the high school,” Shriver added.

Student council members asked each school’s guidance counselor to pick a family they thought could use some assistance. The students coordinate the entire project despite never meeting the families or knowing their names.

“The guidance counselors usually choose a family that has one need or another. Sometimes it’s a family that has recently had a death, or sometimes it’s just a family that has reached out already and asked for help,” said Shriver.

The students themselves donated everything a person would need to make a traditional Thanksgiving meal including the turkey. Food items were collected for about two weeks and then delivered to each school’s guidance counselor. The counselor then contacted each family to schedule a time to pick up the food. 

In the future, Shriver would like to expand the November Service Project by doubling the amount of families they help. The student council has also set a future goal of having a community dinner.

“These kids are amazing. They want to help people and that’s all there is to it. They especially want to help people in their community,” Shriver said.