COMPETING TO HELP THE AREA'S NEEDY

A little friendly competition never hurt anyone and this is particularly true for the needy in the Jackson area. A little friendly competition may ensure that they receive a warm nourishing meal at Christmas.

Members of Jackson High School's sophomore, junior and senior classes finished a week of competition Friday to see which of the classes could collect the most donated canned goods and money for the needy. The food and cash will be turned over to the Jackson Jaycee's "Bundle of Joy" holiday program, which provides food and toys for the less fortunate in the Jackson area.

The three classes have collected literally thousands of cans of food and hundreds of dollars in the past week.

"The canned food drive has been going on here at the high school for awhile," said high school principal Vernon Hook. "Every year it's gotten bigger through the efforts of the student council."

In the program's first year, some 10 years ago, the senior class won the contest with a total of 13 cans of food. That compares with this year, when by Thursday, the senior class had collected about 2,100 cans of food and $100 in cash, according to student body vice president Jon Mark Milde. The junior class had collected 1,500 cans of food and a considerable amount of cash while the sophomore class had collected about 1,500 cans of food and about $300.

Student body president Andrea Mouser said students had gone door-to-door throughout the week soliciting donations from businesses and individuals. One class even sent out letters during the week prior to the start of the contest to let townspeople know about the collection.

"People are really helpful once they find out what you're collecting for," said Mouser.

Some of the collected cash has been used to buy more canned goods, said Milde, a senior.

"I've never had a funnier feeling that I did this week walking through Shop-N-Save to by 725 cans of green beans," he said.

As an incentive to encourage class members to collect, each class has an administrative representative who donates a pair of pants to the class. For every 100 cans of food a class collects, an inch from the length of their representative's pants. Administrators have agreed to wear the pants during the coming week.

Another incentive has been offered by a senior class teacher who has agreed to have a tattoo -- albeit a temporary one -- affixed to his bald head, if the senior class collected $100 in a single day. The class pulled the feat off, and the teacher will be wearing a tattoo sometime in the coming week.

Other teachers have dressed in Christmas apparel and sold rice crispy treats to class members with proceeds going to the charity effort.