Several hundred Maine West High School students and staff will take to the streets on Friday, November 9, for what has become a holiday charity tradition:  “Cans Across Des Plaines.”

Students and staff will form a human chain to pass thousands of food items from the high school to the Self-Help Closet & Pantry of Des Plaines, four blocks away.

Maine West initiated this event in 2009 as a response to economic conditions that were putting pressure on food pantries and making it hard for them to remain adequately stocked.  With many in the community still feeling an economic pinch,  “Cans Across Des Plaines” has become an annual event.

While the inaugural event was conducted in December, students and staff have since moved the effort to November, so that the donations can be on food pantry shelves in advance of Thanksgiving.  Maine West student and faculty volunteers will start their delivery queue just north of the school at about 9:30 a.m. on Friday and will stretch all the way north to Algonquin Road, where Self-Help Closet & Pantry of Des Plaines is located.

Guiding the effort, along with West administrators, is the school’s Student Council.  Maine West receives invaluable help from the Des Plaines Police Department, which ensures safety at the streets that will be crossed during the time that student volunteers will be passing along food donations.