Dear Verona Area High School Staff and Students,

Thanks you for being willing to be a part of our schools and community food drive. The
food drive never ceases to amaze me with everyones willingness to give. The drive has
changed in the ten years that Ive been a part of collections, but with one focus remaining;
to feed people with food scarcity within our school district. Over 25% of high school
students qualify for free and reduced lunches, according to a low estimate. All food
collected goes to Badger Prairie Needs Network, which serves all Verona Area School
District households. Your enthusiasm and relentless dedication to our communitys needs is
what makes our food drive so successful!
The following is more detailed information regarding all aspects of food drive. For those of
you who are new to Food Drive, this letter is meant to be a resource for all upcoming
events. Mondays advisories will have videos available so that the weeks events are clearly
outlined. Please contact me with any further questions.
Warm Regards,
Megan Wenn

FOOD DRIVE MISSION STATEMENT

Our mission is to collect as much food as possible. All the food collected goes to Badger
Prairie Needs Network in Verona. Last year we collected over 22,000 pounds of food, and
this year our goal is to collect 23,000 pounds of food. VAHS is competing against other
Dane County schools in NBC 15s Share Your Holidays Competition.

Food Drive KICK-OFF Event

The purpose of the Kick Off Event is to introduce our food drive to this years students
and create excitement to participate. The teachers can dress up or be dressed up by their
students with the theme in mind to also generate enthusiasm for support.
October 31, 2016
Food Drive Kick Off / Teacher Dress Up
PAC
House 1 will meet at 12:36 meet in Advisory to take attendance then go to PAC
House 2 will meet at 1:06 meet in Advisory to take attendance then go to PAC

SOCIAL MEDIA
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @VAHSFoodDrive
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: @food.drive2016
OUR WEBSITE: veronafooddrive1617.weebly.com

MONDAY ADVISORIES
Each Monday during the length of food drive, November 7th, 14th, and 28th, and December
5th and 12th (not October 31st due to having the Kick-Off, and not November 21st due to
Thanksgiving), we will be emailing you a presentation. This will contain a video made by food
drive explaining the food items that will be collected that week along with a list containing
the same information for easier access. It will also explain the spirit activity that will be
held during that week on Tuesdays.

TUESDAY SPIRIT ACTIVITIES

These will happen every Tuesday for the length of food drive. This is to get students to be
more involved in the theme and bring more attention to Food Drive as a whole. Students
that win will earn points that go to their advisors and their Team (1A, 1B, 2A, etc.). The goal
is to have fun and earn points while doing it. (Refer to point system)

Nov. 1st- Relay-Race to Dress-up like your favorite Harry Potter character.
Students sign up for Wenns A+
Students sign up for this in A+ to race to put on Harry Potter themed
clothing to look like Harry Potter characters over your clothes. The team
that wins the round, by a judgement of accuracy and speed, will win
points for their teams.

Nov. 8th- Butter(root)beer lunches

Food drive directors sell root beer floats during lunch for $1 during both
lunches. These funds will go to Badger Prairie Needs Network (BPNN).

Nov. 15th- Cupcake wars during lunches

Students and teachers make PEANUT FREE cupcakes at home for their
advisories to be sold at lunch and throughout the day. Following
submission of PEANUT FREE cupcakes, pictures will be taken and
submitted to a google survey. The PEANUT FREE Cupcake Display to be
submitted in the PEANUT FREE Cupcake Wars for your advisory needs to
be clearly labeled with your Advisory teachers name and turned into the
directors that will be located near the PAC, by 8:30 Tues. Students can
participate with any other students in their Sub House (House 1A, 1B,

2A, etc.). These cupcakes will be sold during the beginning of lunch until
theyre sold out.

Nov. 22th- jelly bean estimating during lunches

A jar of jelly beans will be displayed in the commons for students to
estimate the amount inside the jar. The student who guesses the right
number or the closest number will win the jar of Jelly Beans in addition
to the points for their team.

Nov. 29th- life size chess will be held during Wenn A+. Students sign up on Resource
Scheduler.
This will be held as an A+ session by Ms.Wenn on Tuesday. Thirty-two
students will be able to sign up and play life size chess. They will be
divided into two teams and randomly assigned a piece to represent and
play as. The winning team, all the individuals will win points for their
Advisory team.

Dec. 6th-Harry Potter Trivia will be held during Wenn A+. Students sign up on
Resource Scheduler.
Trivia on the Harry Potter books and movies will be held in an A+
offering. Students can compete in teams if they are all from the same
Sub House, or they can compete individually. Points will be given to the
top three teams (for their advisories).

Dec. 13th- Pin the scar on Harry will be held during Wenn A+. Students sign up on
Resource Scheduler.
A more casual A+ offering, look under Ms.Wenn this day, where students
will play a game that closely resembles pin the tail on the donkey, but
there will be a large face of Harry Potter and a student must pin his
scar on his head as close as they can blind folded. Winners will earn
points for their team.

THURSDAY COLLECTIONS
Dates: November 3rd, 10th, 17th, and December 1st, 8th, 15th

Students: This year, collections are held during A+ A (11:49-12:26) session on

Thursdays. In these sessions, students who sign up for collections with Lexie Conlin
during Faus A+ will be boxing the food from each advisory room and loading them
onto the truck going to Badger Prairie Needs Network. Saturday mornings students
can sign up for sorting at BPNN on our website and receive volunteer hours.

Teachers: Every Thursday before A+ begins, the food collected from their advisory
should be placed outside of their room door to allow students from food drive to
collect it in a faster and less intrusive fashion. (Teachers: No matter where you are
during that session, it is important that your food is placed outside the room where
you hold advisory.)

LARGE GROUP MEETINGS

Dates: October 21, November 4, 11, 18, December 2, 9, and 16.
Students and staff can join Mr.Faus A+ on Fridays to find out important information from
our Food Drive Student Directors (their information is on the last page).

SUPERMARKET SWEEPS
We are hoping for students passionate participation in Supermarket Sweeps. This is where
high school students volunteer to stand by the entrances of Millers or Copps and hand
small lists of items that the food pantry is looking for that week. The shoppers will then
purchase the items at their discretion, and give them to the students who will be standing
by with a cart to collect the items. The donated food will then count towards the advisory
classroom of the individuals who volunteered their time at the store. The points will be
tallied by those students and reported on the tally sheet for that week by Thursday
Collections. Students can sign up http://veronafooddrive1617.weebly.com/.
*The fliers for students to hand out during Supermarket Sweeps will be attached to this
email.

ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL COLLECTIONS

Every year our high school food drive coordinates with other elementary and middle schools
in the district. This creates a sense of community within the district and helps us collect so
much more food for those in need! We have many volunteer opportunities for anyone who
has a 7th hour release to help us collect the food from the several schools involved. We
also need a few volunteers on Wednesday mornings to talk to the New Century students to
get excited about food drive and helping people in their own community. Go to
http://veronafooddrive1617.weebly.com/ to learn more about the details and sign up if you
are interested. If you have further questions or comments feel free to contact Amie
Rudnicki or Anna Solowicz.

INFORMATION
Kelli Blaisdell - Director of Operations
Caleb Hansen - Director of Operations
Anna Solowicz - Director of Elementary/Middle Schools Collections
Amie Rudnicki - Director of Elementary/Middle Schools Collections
Jillian Ybaez - Director of Supermarket Sweeps
Lexie Conlin - Director of High School Collections
Ali Buzza - Director of Communications
Megan Krogman - Director of Spirit Activities

TALLY POINTS
The food you collect, along with the extra volunteer opportunities that you participate in,
will be given a point value that will be rewarded to your team. The most needed and heaviest
items for that week will be worth the most points. These points for the food must be
totalled up by a student in your advisory, this sheet (the tally sheets are attached in the
same email in which you received this letter), is to be placed with the food outside your
door for students to collect during the Thursday Collections. Points can also be earned by
participating in Elementary and Middle School Pick Ups, Saturday Sorting, and the Spirit
Activities. Keep track of the total points your class earns on the weekly tally sheet. At the
end of Food Drive, the 16th of December, the winners will be announced. There will be two
types of winners, eight minor winners (the advisory that earned the most points in each
respective team) and two major winners (the advisory with the absolute most points earned
in each house). All minor winning advisories will earn a small ice cream party catered by
Culvers, and the major winners also get a pizza party along with the provided ice cream.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Badger Prairie Needs Network or BPNN.org has many volunteer opportunities. Monday
during 7th hour or after school students are invited to help sort out the food that has been
collected from the previous week. No need to RSVP. Just show up! You will earn point for
your advisory at this opportunity.