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HIDALGO — The early college high school’s Medical Club students’ annual Thanksgiving food drive aims to provide a full traditional feast to families in need this year.

And the club went above and beyond by collecting a record amount of turkeys to give away.

Organizing the turkeys, canned foods and other Thanksgiving essentials on Wednesday students made the final preparations before giving items to the school’s social workers to distribute to those families in need.

Hidalgo Early College High School (HECHS) Medical Club senior Belen Constante said she’s done the food drive since she was a freshman, and this year’s collection garnered the most turkeys the club has ever received.

Up from around 10 turkeys this year, the HECHS community donated 28 turkeys and lots of other foods for families to have a complete Thanksgiving meal.

Constante said with the world changing, she thinks more people are in need and with the increase, the community is more willing to donate to those in need.

“Even if we don’t know who they are, we want to show them that we care for them … there’s a community out there that’s willing to donate for them so they can also have a tummy filled with food,” she said.

Fellow Medical Club member Edson Fonseca also agrees that the world has changed and said people’s hearts don’t have to.

“We still care about our community and you shouldn’t have to worry about Thanksgiving,” Fonseca said. “We’re a tightly knit community and there’s a lot in our pride so it feels good to be able to give back to those in need.”

HECHS Principal Darren Earhart said the campus is very community driven and students know the needs and want to help.

“There’s a greater understanding of the need now and we see that evident in the fact that more things were contributed this year, we saw almost triple the turkeys for example,” Earhart said. “We’re very big here on customer service and emotional intelligence, so these students leaving the high school and going into whatever career they choose, we know that they’re going to support people … no matter what route they go.”

Health Science teacher and Medical Club sponsor Erica Lorena Alvarez said she gets sentimental seeing her students grow up and become leaders in their clubs and in school.

“It’s a kind of testament that the club is doing well and they are thriving,” Alvarez said. “One day I’m not here, I hope that my students will make a legacy within themselves, anywhere they go, and become the next leaders.”

She said the Thanksgiving drive is usually a partnership with the RGV Food Bank but that her students wanted to do something in-house this year.

“It was a bigger monster to tackle, so, definitely asked for my administration, staff, my colleagues, for support, because without them, I don’t think we couldn’t make it possible,” Alvarez said. “My goal was just five or 10, the usual. The kids thrived to do 20 and at the end of the day, we got 28 so, I am beyond ecstatic.”

All the donated food will be distributed to families before Thanksgiving.

Another Medical Club senior, Javier Martinez, said giving back is something that needs to be normalized.

“It’s a beautiful tradition that we want to keep going for on and on and for the eighth graders coming in,” Martinez said. “ We want to pass it on to them so they can move forward and continue the Thanksgiving drive.”

The post Hidalgo High School students’ Thanksgiving drive breaks district record appeared first on MyRGV.com.