Monte Food Bowl misses rivalry

Students collect equivalent of 73,565 pounds of food

By Todd Bennington • December 21, 2017 1:30 am
(Todd Bennington | The Vidette) Montesano students pose with a trophy earned during past Food Bowl competitions while waiting outside the Montesano Food Bank to help unload donations on the afternoon of Dec. 12.
(Todd Bennington | The Vidette) Montesano students pose with a trophy earned during past Food Bowl competitions while waiting outside the Montesano Food Bank to help unload donations on the afternoon of Dec. 12.

Montesano students collected 13,120 pounds of food and raised $30,202 as part of this year’s Food Bowl.

Cassadie Golding, high school Associated Student Body (ASB) business manager, told The Vidette the numbers can be figured as the combined equivalent of 73,565 pounds of food.

“We are down if we compare to last year but not by a whole lot,” ASB adviser and assistant principal Anne Ekerson reported. “Quite honestly the last couple of days of Food Bowl the kids really picked it up and found those donations, went to extra homes asking for donations.”

“We were a little concerned at the beginning of Food Bowl with the numbers, but we’re quite pleased with how the numbers added up,” Ekerson said.

The traditional Montesano-Elma rivalry was not in effect this year, Elma having elected to hold their Food Bowl event in November in an effort to better serve the needs of the food banks they serve. Ekerson acknowledged this might have led to a little less excitement due to the lack of competition.

ASB secretary Morgan Kersker, a Montesano senior who has participated in a total of six Food Bowls, agreed with Ekerson’s assertion, saying she preferred the old rivalry.

“We definitely had less numbers than last year, but it was still successful,” Kersker said.

One good thing to come out of the lack of competition, according to Ekerson, is that people tended to be more thoughtful about their donations.

“This year I found people were donating, maybe not the heaviest items, but items the food bank might need, such as cereal. … I heard that happened across the board – more families were looking at what does the food bank really need?” Ekerson said.