Mount Si and Cedarcrest High School students have donated hundreds of pounds of food and other essentials in the past month, as part of their traditional collections for people in need.

Although the schools no longer face each other on the football field, groups at both high schools are in the midst of their annual “Foodball” food drives, an event named for the annual Valley Cup football game between Mount Si and Cedarcrest. The event isn’t a contest between schools, but it still stirs the competitive spirit in both districts. Elementary schools vie to raise more donations of food and cash than their high schools, and at the high schools, students compete by class, and by period.

“In the past, we’ve gotten tons of food from all the schools,” said Haley Knox, president of the Cedarcrest National Honor Society, which coordinates Foodball in the Riverview School District.

Foodball “is really big with the students,” said Charlie Kinnune, the advisor for the Mount Si High School Associated Student Body (ASB) which puts on Foodball every year. Students can get creative with their activities, Kinnune says, and they’ve tried blanket drives, coat drives, and so on, but “This is what stays consistent.”

“When you drop off a load of food with the student leaders and ASB, there’s nothing more gratifying,” he added.

So far, the Associated Student Body (ASB) has collected and donated more than 6,000 pounds of food to area food banks, but the group, which runs Foodball at Mount Si High School, has the lofty goal of collecting 50,000 pounds before the drive ends Dec. 16.

Mount Si students distribute their donations among food banks in North Bend—Encompass and Mount Si Helping Hands Food Bank, Preston and Fall City. Donations from schools in Fall City are specifically delivered to the local food banks, Kinnune added.

At Cedarcrest, all of the donations collected are delivered to HopeLink in Carnation, Knox said.

Also at CHS, the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Club just completed a personal products drive, collecting soap, toothpaste, shampoo and so on for people in need.

“Apparently people on food stamps can’t use them to by personal products,” said club advisor Peggy Filer. “So we really try to emphasize (that problem) to the kids, by asking ‘how many of you use soap?’ ‘how many of you use shampoo?’ We really get their attention when we ask how many use toothpaste!”

At this time of year, there’s one more essential that families need, gifts. The Mount Si Key Club is collecting toys for the Giving Tree program through Dec. 14.

Groups at both schools make it easy to donate by putting collection sites throughout the school buildings.