For this year’s Diamondback Giveback, Fort Herriman Middle School’s annual charity, students collected food donations for Utah Food Bank and Jordan Education Foundation’s Principal’s Pantry.

“We decided that our focus this year would be food and monetary donations to address food insecurity in our community and throughout the state,” CTE teacher Stephanie Grant said.

Student leaders planned and organized the food drive, which ran through the month of November and created an atmosphere of anticipation for the holidays and the season of giving.

Fort Herriman Middle School announces their fundraising total for the 2024 Diamondback Giveback at a closing assembly. (Photo courtesy Stephanie Grant)

 "This event is an opportunity for our community to unite, support those in need, and guarantee that no one is left out,” eighth-grader Hadley Smith said. “The goal is to involve students in these activities at a young age to intentionally create a habit of helping others that will last a lifetime."

Ninth-grader Sydney Law said the school fundraiser gives her a chance to help and uplift others. “Providing that service is what the holiday season is all about,” she said.

Students collected canned goods and also could purchase treats at school not available any other time of the year, with all proceeds going to the fundraiser. They also contributed with small purchases, such as sodas and candy which were sold during lunch and donuts which were sold before school.

Oakley Larsen, a seventh-grader, said by being part of the fundraising efforts students could learn  “even tiny acts can be huge. The best part is that everyone can join in and do just a small part." She said contributing makes students feel good and will hopefully motivate them to look for service opportunities again. 

A popular fundraising activity was selling a Crush soda that students could pay to have delivered to their 'crush.' If the recipient wanted to know who sent the soda, they could pay money to find out. However the sender was able to pay an additional amount for 'Crush Insurance' and remain anonymous.

Ninth-grader Mercedes Brinkerhoff said the fundraising activities were a fun and easy way for students to be involved in helping the community.

"It turns donating from something students might avoid, into an activity they genuinely want to join, proving that helping others isn't just for adults,” she said. “For middle school students, this program is empowering. It proves that even young people can create positive change. This knowledge provides an important drive to action.”

Eighth-grader Hallie Reynolds said Diamondback Giveback daily activities are a great mood booster. Incentives and rewards, both negative and positive, were part of the fun.

“For example, the music played in the halls during passing periods was replaced with screeching cats until we had raised $3,000,” Grant said. The fun rewards also accrued and by the closing assembly, students got to watch student body officers get pied in the face and see some of their teachers get their hair bleached.

Copper Mountain Middle School also collected food donations for the Utah Food Bank for their annual November fundraiser and they also responded to incentives and rewards.

First period classes competed to collect the most food donations and earn rewards such as getting candy, an extra five minutes of lunch and a school movie or activity. Other rewards were watching teachers and student body officers get pied in the face and taking the ice bucket challenge, and seeing the principal get duct-taped to the wall.

 While the total amount collected was not available at the time of printing, CMMS teacher Samantha Jenkins said CMMS has always had a successful food drive.

“Last year, the Utah Food Bank representative that picked up our donations was impressed by how much we collected and said that we had a significantly higher amount of donations than other schools in the area that they collected from that week,” she said.