By Jake Evans
Round Table Reporter

Middletown High School recently had a food drive and students collected loads of food, from canned goods to Ramen noodle packages, to help local families in need.

The MHS National Honor Society was responsible for the food, and MHS English teacher and NHS adviser Daria Baldovin-Jahrling supervised the event. Baldovin-Jahrling said, “1088 items were collected total, which was equal to about $500.”

She said that Ramen noodle boxes were collected the most, with a total of 280 boxes. “There were lot of food items not donated at all like sauerkraut, but I wouldn’t blame them because most people don’t like sauerkraut,” she added.

Baldovin-Jahrling said that the MHS students should have done a somewhat better job in donating food this year, but she also thinks that the results might have been affiliated with the current economy of the United States.

She also said that instead of selling the food and giving the money to the needy, the NHS actually gives the food donated to the food drive.

The most notable symbol of the MHS Food Drive was the Ramen noodle tower—a tower built with multiple boxes of Ramen—in the classroom of MHS technology teacher Mike Malafarina.

“The tower was about six feet tall,” said Malafarina.

Baldovin-Jahrling compared the results of this year’s food drive to last year’s, and commented on the level of success.

“We had more food than last year,” Baldovin-Jahrling said, “but last year had more food variety. Next year, we need people to think more about the people in need, just so more students and staff could donate.”

To wrap up the conversation, Baldovin-Jahrling said that the food drive didn’t do as well as previous years, but she is grateful for all of the students and staff who collected.