What started as a routine event – the annual Morgan Hill School
District canned food drive – quickly turned into something
extraordinary at Martin Murphy Middle School this year.
What started as a routine event – the annual Morgan Hill School District canned food drive – quickly turned into something extraordinary at Martin Murphy Middle School this year.
Every school in the district collects cans which are then combined with items from other community groups and boxed for needy families in the district. But this year, Martin Murphy students collected more than 6,000 cans, more than all the other schools in the district combined.
Part of the reason that was possible is a streak of competitiveness in Martin Murphy math teacher Greg Giammona.
“I just put the challenge out there, getting on the loudspeaker in between classes, in my arrogant and obnoxious way, and it grew from there,” Giammona said Friday. “It went from bringing in a few cans for extra credit until it became ‘Let’s beat Mr. G.’ Once the numbers began to grow, it exploded into a rapid pace.”
As Giammona announced the daily total number of cans his class had collected, he would throw in a challenge or verbal jabs to the students and teachers, enticing them to attempt to collect more than his class.
“It really took a life of its own and turned into a huge competition,” said math teacher Zahn Yates, who leads the Junior Scholarship Federation, a service and recognition club at Martin Murphy. “When the district came to collect all the cans, we had 28 barrels and 41 boxes of food.”
Yates said the food was sorted and distributed Friday afternoon at P.A. Walsh Elementary by volunteers from other service-oriented groups, including the Girl Scouts and student volunteers.
In the final count, Giammona said, his class lost by a hair, with 3,700 cans.
“They (his students) were kind of down, asking ‘How could you let us lose,’ but something we never forgot, with all the excitement of the competition, was the reason we were doing this,” he said. “So I told them, the real winners are the families. I told them they should be proud of themselves, because we fed the families. I told them because we raised the competition to this level, more of the families in our district can benefit … I think then they realized what a good thing they had done.”
One group of friends, Giammona said, decided to spend some of their after-school hours collecting food. Together, seventh graders Tony Zizzo, Aaron Pankey, Christian Chatman and Eric Caranza collected more than 350 cans.
“I just thought it was a really good thing to do,” Tony said Friday. “It was a great competition, it was fun, but it helped a lot of families.”
Giammona, who is in his third year of teaching, said his “annoying” announcements and challenges to the other teachers and students sparked the competition, but the students themselves rose to the challenge.
“They really tapped the community,” he said. “They took the initiative to go door to door or use other ways to get more and more food. So although my stirring the pot may have helped, I think these students didn’t forget that what they were doing was bigger than the focus on the competition. Ultimately, it is the families who benefited from this, but I think the students did, too, because it underlines the value of doing good works. They feel good that they have helped other people.”
