LOHS students learn leadership, business skills
Published in the December 10-23, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Live Oak High School Future Business Leaders of America charter members Roxanne Corbin, a senior, and Anna Snyder, a junior, sort canned food in preparation for the annual Thanksgiving food donation drive. Photo by Marty Cheek
On Thanksgiving Day, 125 families in Morgan Hill had cause to thank the students of the Live Oak High School Future Business Leaders of America for bringing them canned food, bread, tortillas and frozen turkeys.
Elizabeth Ha, a senior and co-president of the Live Oak’s FBLA charter, said the annual Thanksgiving tradition unites students, parents and teachers in a cause where families in need can be sure they’ll have a happy Thanksgiving meal.
“We actually see the reactions on people’s faces as we deliver the food,” she said. “It’s really cool that we go start to finish from gathering all the cans, getting all the funds to buy the turkeys and packaging them and delivering them.”
Samantha Sadoff, a junior and co-president of Live Oak’s FBLA charter, agrees. She recalls the reaction of one family that touched her heart last year.
“I remember one time when I went to a house and there was a little girl who answered the door and she was really excited and she called her mom and they started going through the box right away to see what they got,” Sadoff said. “It’s a way for the whole community to get involved and spread joy during the holiday season.”
The Thanksgiving tradition has been going on for at least 30 years, said Kiki Nakauchi, a former Live Oak teacher and the FBLA volunteer adviser. It started small and grew and is now capped at 125 families chosen from all the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s elementary schools and two middle schools. The day before Thanksgiving, members of the Morgan Hill Lions Club drove students to the homes to deliver the boxes. It’s an eye-opening experience for students to see the condition of some of the residences and they develop a sense of compassion, she said.
“The nice part is when the students help deliver because that’s when they get to see where these people live,” Nakauchi said. “I think that’s really important.”
Students spent time standing outside the Safeway store on East Dunne to gather food and money to buy turkeys. There was also a canned food collection site in the front office of Live Oak. The FBLA students spent two mornings in a room at Live Oak packing the food in boxes, adding a flier on each delivery that read “Happy Thanksgiving.”
The FBLA helps students become more involved in Morgan Hill through volunteering on various projects throughout the year, Ha said.
“People join the chapter to become more acquainted with the community as well as the people in their own schools. They learn different leadership skills as well as business skills.”
