Pinecrest Academy again supported the St. Brendan the Navigator Church food pantry as a Christmas service project.

The campus community gathered 13,318 canned food items, which is the most items since the school began this food drive.

St. Joseph’s Food Bank at St. Brendan helps almost 3,500 families.

“Serving and loving others is always the underlying motivation for our annual food drive, and this initiative allows our students to develop servant hearts and build character,” said Jake Rodgers, Pinecrest Academy head of school.

The collection and delivery to the St. Joseph Food Pantry was spearheaded by the campus ministry and carried out by the high school students. The process took two days, two trucks and roughly nine hours.

Pinecrest employs a virtue program, where students strive to master a “Virtue of the Month.” December’s virtue is “generosity,” and the canned food drive fits into this virtue lesson.

Pinecrest students went above and beyond in donation efforts this year. A Pre-K 3 child accepted donations from neighbors in a wooden crate crafted by her father. Another student was inspired to help her classroom grow their donation number by bringing in more than 900 items. A family of siblings pulled a wagon around their neighborhood collecting donations. And a teacher matched the high school’s donation tally during the drive, donating more than 700 items.

The middle school deans allowed students to choose rewards for bringing in the most items in their classrooms. One of the rewards was “wrapping” the dean of students to a light pole. On Dec. 16, students collected their prize, wrapping the school leader to a pole before afternoon carpool.