Patriot high school’s National Honor Society (NHS) is a club where students get the opportunity to be active in their school community by using their leadership abilities to help others. This year has brought on many challenges. With the coronavirus restricting the typical norm, finding clever new ways to adapt has become a staple for this school year.

In this case, the annual food drive, hosted by NHS every year has been adjusted to fit a more healthy and safe environment while still allowing students to give back to their community. The holiday season can be tough on families and with COVID-19, it’s harder than ever to put food on the table.

“Now though with covid, more people are in need so we made it a drive through food drive.” President of NHS, Zahra Malik said.

Malik and the rest of the NHS members created a drive-through station. The station was located at the front of the patriot high school building, the same place where students used to be dropped off and picked up from school everyday. Through this drive-through station, donating food could be quick, easy, and allow a minimal amount of contact.  For people willing to donate, all of these precautions were placed to ensure that everyone was at the lowest risk.

The NHS club also incentivizes students to donate by offering the chance to gain some community service hours.

“The food items can count as hours for students who need them now that it’s hard to get hours because of covid.” Malik said.

Due to all the restrictions of the pandemic, it is hard for students to find opportunities to help the community and also get credit to apply for colleges. With the food drive, students who delivered items got the chance to aquate the items they donate into service hours.

All the food donated goes to the Haymarket regional food pantry, a local non profit food distribution center. With the current health crisis, local food pantries are looking for people to help in any way they can. During the holiday season, there are many ways to be active in the community. From just donating food to becoming a registered volunteer or to even just giving a financial donation, there are lots of ways to help the community!