The first class of the National Technical Honor Society from High Tech Center Central reached out to contribute to area food banks by collecting more than 2,182 food items to help those in need. The donated items will go to Tice Elementary for its Blessings in a Backpack program and to Orange River Elementary, which is implementing a similar program for its students and parents, school district officials said.

These programs are designed to provide food for children and their families to take home over the weekends (in backpacks, hence the name.)

“It was discovered that many of our students and their families were going without food on the weekends, and that for many students, the only meals they were receiving were the breakfasts and lunches provided in our schools,” said Joe Donzelli, director of communications with the Lee County school system.

The students in High Tech Central’s National Technical Honor Society more than doubled their goal of collecting two food items per member, he said. Students from the Carpentry class collected the greatest number of food items by averaging 47 items per student.

The food items collected by the High Tech Central students may go to the Community Cooperative Ministries Incorporated, the Soup Kitchen, Meals on Wheels, and the Harry Chapin Food Bank, which serves other food banks, including Lehigh.