In 2015, 42.2 million people faced hunger in the U.S, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. This has led to the creation of Harvest Drive, a program that works to give thousands of people a helping hand. This fall people of the community are giving their support to help families in need.

The program provides a week’s worth of groceries, household items (e.g. Sponges, Body Wash, Plates.), and money to underprivileged families; it provides this assistance to more than 2300 families on a yearly basis.

Fundraising efforts and collections are ongoing throughout the fall. These collections come from local schools, as well as, private organizations. According to, harvestdriveflorida.com, students from over 180 public and private schools along with multiple community organizations have offered their support towards Harvest Drive.

Broward County also aides in the fundraising and collection efforts.

South Broward is one of the many schools that work to collect donations for Harvest Drive.

Clubs will adopt a family, and will work to provide that family with the items that Harvest Drive has selected; families will receive: canned juices, vegetables, meats, fruit, soup, stuffing, napkins, aluminum foil, and more.

According to Duane Consbruck, there are four days where harvest drive donations are packaged and distributed.

Students and staff will organize donations into sets of 10 bags. They will label each set of 10 and assign them to a family.

“Harvest Drive at South Broward is a time where all of the school clubs and peers come together to help the community and our fellow peers. During the packing and distribution, it is wonderful to participate and work with others in a team to organize all of the donated items,” said Olesya Malakhova (class of 2018).

On November 15^th, bags prepared by schools will be distributed to families; families from other schools in Broward will also come to South Broward.

South Broward is one of over fifteen schools that will distribute these items to families.

It is a community-wide distribution, allowing people to support families through volunteer work and through community service.

“For the past 25 years, The Harvest Drive Florida has helped thousands of needy students’ families enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving dinner while also providing them with a week’s worth of non-perishable groceries. It is a 100% volunteer charity, staffed by students, school administrators, teachers, community sponsors and people like you who are willing to give of their time to help distribute food to families,” says Duane Consbruck.

Debra Hixon, Harvest Drive Coordinator, says, “It’s inspiring to see the community come together to be sure those in-need have a happy Thanksgiving.”

This program works alongside schools and community organizations to collect food, money, and items for families in need, giving families of the community a more enjoyable Thanksgiving.