Donations are being accepted on the El Portal Middle School campus through Wednesday, Nov. 18 in a drive to benefit Escalon Strong.
The El Portal PAC – Peers Actively Communicating – class is spearheading the food and toiletries drive, seeking non-perishable food items, canned goods, toiletries for men and women, and more.
“We plan to have a small bus on campus to house our donations, and our hope is we can stuff the bus to help those in our community,” said PAC teacher Heather Oliveira, who also teaches English at El Portal.
Community members are also encouraged to stop by to drop off donations and there are incentives for students to give; the grade level with the fullest bus section will receive an entire grade level prize.
Students can drop off donations in Room 6 before school or during break; community members can stop by with donations as well and turn them in at the El Portal office on campus.
Oliveira said the PAC class is somewhat of a precursor to the high school PIT, Peer Interaction Team, class.
“The students are being trained to help with peer resolution, when we have problems on campus,” Oliveira explained. “It is their elective class and they also try to promote schoolwide activities as well as community activities like Stuff the Bus.”
The PAC is open to seventh and eighth grade students.
Sixth graders, Oliveira said, can see what the PAC does on campus and around the community, but they aren’t eligible to join the elective course until their seventh grade year.
“We’re kind of the JV version,” Oliveira said of PAC compared to PIT. “We’re getting them ready if they want to join that class when they’re at the high school.”
For two-year PAC member Sofia Calderon, she sees plenty of benefits from the class.
“I wanted to get involved in it because I knew that it helped others students and that it helped promote Red Ribbon Week, Kindness Week, Mental Health Week and also Stuff the Bus, so I wanted to help and be part of it,” Calderon shared.
She said they hope to get plenty of donations, especially focusing on the toiletries and canned, non-perishable food items.
The eighth grader said along with helping out others, the class is beneficial for those involved in other ways as well.
“For me the best part is just seeing how we grow together as a team,” Calderon said. “Being able to accomplish more and more stuff; we did some things last year and this year we are doing even more.”
The Stuff the Bus drive hosted by the El Portal PAC officially kicked off on Oct. 26 and runs through Nov. 18.
