WPIAL joining forces to help feed our neighbors in need through the KDKA-TV Turkey Fund
Contributor: Executive Producer of Special Projects Corey Martin
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Every year, since 1982, we've asked you to help us make sure our neighbors in need have something to eat at Thanksgiving. And every year, we couldn't do it without all of you and our many generous community partners. Even the WPIAL is now in the game.
At Armstrong Junior-Senior High School in Kittanning, collecting food for the community has become a team sport.
"We are collecting food for our local food bank by kind of a fun way called 'stuff a van,'" said high school senior Isaiah Brown.
Brown's classmate, Sophia DiGregorio, added, "We have cardboard boxes throughout every homeroom, and each member from our Student-Athlete Advisory Council goes through every morning and collects any food donations that we've gotten."
When it's all collected, it's time to stuff the van. But, why a van?
"Because some of our sports teams are smaller sports teams, they take the van to games or events and things that like. Or they'll go on field trips. So, whenever we were talking about it we were like, 'Why don't we stuff the van full of food?'" said Jake Kanish, a Learning Support teacher and Co-Athletic Director at the school.
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Armstrong is one of many schools in the WPIAL participating in the league's third annual "Food and Fund Drive," which benefits the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
"Our schools have really taken this competition to heart. By having that little bit of competition element towards it, it really helps us and helps our schools get into it more. It's all in friendly competition because, in the end, all we want to do is help our communities, " said WPIAL director of communications Ethan Woy.
Schools are ranked in six classifications, and there's a winner in each class.
There's also an overall league winner, and, last year, that was Armstrong.
With help from students, staff and community members, they brought in enough food or monetary donations to equal more than 12,000 meals.
"It really just was an all-in effort from their entire school district," said Woy. For Armstrong, they see this effort of giving back to the community as sort of a redemption.
"We had some really bad press about two years ago. Our students acted out a hockey game, and it made national news. And we said 'We have to do better.' We started talking about how can we best affect more than just our student-athletes. How can we affect our entire student body?'" said co-principal Michael Cominos.
"We want our kids to feel a sense of belonging. We want our teachers to feel a sense of community with our students. We want our community as a whole to be part of the giant school community. And this was truly a community effort," he added.
For the senior students, they hope this is the legacy they leave when they graduate.
"To me, personally, to be a part of this, I think it's important to show obviously we care about others," said Brown.
"To know that our school is doing something good, not only for the people here but for people outside of our school," DiGregorio added.
For the educators, they see this as the foundation of something good.
"It makes me proud to be a River Hawk and to show our community and the western Pennsylvania region what we can do here at Armstrong to give back," said Kanish.
"It's refreshing. And I think we've got something really positive happening here and a good feeling on just overall leadership and community," Cominos added.
Because the goal, after all, is good sportsmanship whether it's on or off the field.
Click here for more information and to donate to the KDKA-TV Turkey Fund.
