Westsyde Secondary students sorting their donations into Kamloops Food Bank pick-up bins. (Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

SEVENTH ANNUAL

High school food drive blends community, competitive spirit of Kamloops students

Dec 11, 2025 | 5:22 PM

KAMLOOPS — Four different secondary schools around Kamloops have been competing over the last several weeks to see who can collect the most items for the Kamloops Food Bank.

The annual campaign is meant to give back to the community while teaching students about the importance of food security. For the seventh annual high school food drive, the stakes were high among Westsyde, South Kam, Sa-Hali and Valleyview students. Thursday morning (Dec. 11) saw the culmination of their work.

“I would say we’re a lot more successful than we were last year,” notes Grade 12 student Jacey Hallstrom. “Each year, we get two grocery carts from Save-On Foods to push around the school. Something kind of new, something fun, it gets people’s attention. Last year I think we filled two or three carts and this year I think we did about six loads with the carts.”

Pick ups began at Westsyde, then it was over to SouthKam.

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: December 11, 2025

9h ago

TWO & OUT

PETERS: With Conservatives' constant infighting, Eby may as well have super-majority

11h ago

ONE MAN'S OPINION

COLLINS: William has taken care of it already

11h ago

“We visited the food bank before and it was just such a good experience. It felt really rewarding afterward,” says Molly Crosbie, a Grade 12 student who took part.

“Just knowing like, every little bit matters and being able to help someone out,” says Grade 12 student Hailey MacPhee. “Especially close to the holidays, it’s really nice to help someone out.”

Next, the truck went to Sa-Hali Secondary, where students kept the scales climbing.

“Just trying to contribute to society and people who need food,” said Grade 9 student David Aina. “People who may not have necessarily what everyone has.”

“It really is just a reminder that we have so much to be grateful for,” adds fellow Grade 9 student Inu Gboun.

And during the final pick-up at Valleyview Secondary, students reflected on the impact of their work.

“I think it’s actually pretty crazy that our school actually puts the effort in to make things happen, especially around the holidays,” said Emily Seaby, one of the Grade 12s who collected donations.

“We did this last year, too, but we didn’t actually go through and organize it,” says Georgia Tansowny, while looking over their tidy mountain of goods. “Because I’m a [teacher’s assistant] for Mrs. Yamaoka this year, I was like, ‘Hey, we have time. We’re not doing anything. Let’s pull everything out of the boxes, put everything back in nicely.'”

It’s a competition but coordinator Christina Yamaoka says the spirit of it is rooted in a desire to combat food insecurity.

“I feel that this year, the need is greater. Twenty-four-point-four per cent of our population is struggling. That’s our friends, neigbours, family,” notes Yamaoka.

All together, nearly 5,000 lbs of non-perishable items were delivered to the Kamloops Food Bank Thursday (Dec. 11).

“Today, they’ve raised for us, retail value, about $18,000 worth of food. That’s a lot,” says Food Bank executive director Bernadette Siracky, adding it was a much needed boost for the warehouse shelves.

“We love to welcome students in to the food bank because having kids come in here and feeling comfortable with our organization, feeling comfortable with non-profit organizations and understanding how they can actually do something to really help is important,” adds Siracky. “They’re taking those lessons outside of high school and they’re coming back to us as adults and bringing their workplace teams in here and they know they can make a difference.”

Winning isn’t why students collected donations, but claiming first place was added incentive for the four schools who took part.

“If we win against Valleyview, we’re going to be shaving our vice principal’s head,” says Westsyde student Maddin Lidder. “I think that’s pretty fun and it seems like kids got a lot more excited when we told them about that.”

The final weigh-in tally is in, and the winner was calculated using pounds per student. Westsyde students came in first place this year with 1,720 lbs for 2.25 lbs per student. Valleyview Secondary was a close second, collecting 2,054 lbs for 1.76 lbs per student, while South Kamloops Secondary collected 669 lbs in total and Sa-Hali Secondary raked in 468 lbs.