For the past five years Yorba Linda High School has participated in a school wide canned food drive. Most years, Yorba Linda has gone against Esperanza High School for a little competition between the two based on who could collect the most canned food and ramen. As well as having met the goal for last year, being eighteen thousand cans, the Mustangs had beaten out Esperanza once again. This year, a new goal is to be reached as well as maintaining the title victory against the Aztecs.

These past five years, Yorba Linda has been more successful than Esperanza in the canned food drive, as well as the achieved the goals set out by the school’s students and staff. Last year, the eighteen thousand can goal was reached, as well as a well deserved victory against the Aztecs, for the fifth year in a row. The competition between Esperanza and Yorba Linda is mainly used to collect more cans by encouraging students to bring in as many possible to beat the rival school. Local homeless or poor families in Yorba Linda were sent these cans, meaning as a whole the Yorba Linda High School students fed many families, who could have otherwise been without dinner for many nights. Students turn in cans as a way to impact the poor families in need all throughout their community, knowing that they have so much themselves.

This year, the amount of cans wanted to be collected by the students at Yorba Linda High School is eighteen thousand, similar to last year, however they have only collected two thousand cans. To continue the streak of victory against the Aztecs and supply food for these poor families, the Mustangs at Yorba Linda must continue bringing in the cans till Thursday, October 13. Though the Mustangs battle for the most cans sold with Esperanza, within the school the language arts teachers are competing for top class as well. The class with the most cans collected receives a special prize after all cans have been totaled up. Fellow students have also claimed that the canned food drive is an amazing charitable fundraiser, such as Maddie Cusick (9), “It opens up our eyes to our community and makes us aware for what we have.” Through this charity fundraiser, not only are the students from Yorba Linda and Esperanza serving these poor families with dinner to eat, but are also learning to be grateful for what they have through the process.

Yorba Linda High School has collected eighteen thousand cans in previous years of this food drive, as well as beaten out the Aztecs for most cans collected since the start of the entire fundraiser. This year, they are hopeful to beat out Esperanza as well as collect cans for those families in need. They have not reached their goal, yet they are still fighting to keep their long streak of victory against the Aztecs, as well as to bring in cans for those families in need.