L.U. 41 (em,es,govt,i,se&spa), BUFFALO, NY — Fourth-year apprentice Derrick Prezyna came to our local with the idea to have an apprentice food drive competition. To make it fun, we decided that the apprentice class that donated the most non-perishable food would have dinner provided during class.
The first couple of weeks started slowly, as a few cans trickled in daily. It appeared that only the second-year class was after the free meal, bringing in about 30 items per class. Then one day, while grabbing a couple of cans from each classroom, I walked into the first-year room to find 260 items.
This was the first domino to fall in what turned out to be a fierce and fun competition. As we updated progress charts daily, the contest really started to heat up. During the last two days of the competition, more than 2,300 items were collected.
Over the course of a month, our 145 apprentices brought in almost 4,000 items, more than 3,000 pounds of food. Due to the volume of donations, we were able to make contributions to three local food pantries. I would like to thank all our apprentices, as this was truly an amazing showing of generosity that will help many families in our community.
Matthew M. Gaiser, A.B.M.
