ABC-7 food drive collects 11 tons of food; Eastwood High collects more than any other high school

The KVIA 2016 Holiday Food Drive was a huge success thanks to the help of this year’s sponsor – Sun City Emergency Room – and area high school students.

ABC-7 more than double last year’s numbers.

Sun City ER generated a total of 2,546 pounds of food donations at its east and west El Paso locations.

The high school with the highest “Pounds per Student” – based on the TEA Student Enrollment for 2015-2016 – was Eastwood High School from the Ysleta Independent School District.

Students at Eastwood generated to nearly 3,000 pounds of food. Ashlie Oropeza, the student activities coordinator at Eastwood High School, told ABC-7 a group of 20 students went “caroling for cans.”

The students sang Christmas carols in exchange for food donations. “The kids loved it, they loved going into the neighborhood to knock on doors,” Oropeza said, “We didn’t even know this was a competition.”

When combined, the food drive collected more than eleven tons of food, which is expected to generate 19,000 meals.

In 2015, the food drive generated nearly five tons of food, resulting in more than 11,000 meals.