CHESHIRE, Mass. — Hoosac Valley High School cares more than a ton.

 

Over the past week, Hoosac Valley students have brought in food for the schoolwide Hoosac Cares A Ton food drive to benefit the St. John Paul II Charity Center in Adams.

 

"It's amazing," Principal Jerimiah Ames said. "The students and their families really stepped up to the opportunity to give something back."

 

Ames said this is the first year the school took on the challenge and it was designed to work alongside the faculty United Way drive. He said they decided to aim high with a goal weight of 2,000 pounds but students surpassed this bringing in a total of 3,608.2 pounds of food.

 

"I am shocked, and at first I thought we were going to have to cheat," Ames said. "They started off kind of slow but as the week went on they got more and more competitive."

 

Students dropped off food in totes when they came to school in the morning. Ames said the Honors Society borrowed the nurse's scale every morning, weighed the food and announced the totals.

 

Food was literally piled into an unused classroom. Students brought in everything from canned goods to potatoes and even more than 20 turkeys. 

 

Ames said there was a competitive edge to the drive and the class that brought in the most pounds will get to watch a movie the half day before Thanksgiving break.

 

The sixth grade came out as the champions with 1,141 pounds of food. The eighth grade came in a close second with 1,058.2.

 

Twelfth-grader Noah Matrigali said they felt it was important to make sure those without still have a good thanksgiving.

 

"There are people less fortunate than us, and they deserve to have a good thanksgiving and be as thankful as we are," he said. "The least we can do is give back."

 

Eleventh grader Hanna Koczela agreed and said the donations show how close the Adams Cheshire community is.

 

"I think it shows when we are given something we try to accomplish it," she said. "We understand that it is for a good cause and we can all come together."