We had the opportunity to interview Maria Guinta and Liana Kimsal, both directors of community service for the Pet Drive and Thanksgiving Food Drive for NJ DECA. This competition-based program brings high-energy and charitable giving to the Kingsway community. Find out more below!

• Before you started collecting, what steps did your DECA team take to assess the specific needs of your community or the local food bank you partnered with? What items were requested most?

Maria: “So, I would say, like for getting started, we definitely were thinking of, we wanted to do a food drive, or some kind of drive. So, we did a supply drive in October, and we wanted to do a supply drive in November because it made sense with Thanksgiving and going down that line. But, it didn’t really take too much planning beforehand, just letting everyone know, and like making sure we had a table and all that. You asked, like, what was most requested?”

Kamiah: “Like, what was most… Yeah, requested.”

Maria: “Definitely like all the canned goods and food.”

Liana: (agrees) Canned goods and non-perishable items.”

• What was your measurable goal for the food drive (ex, pounds of food, number of items, or meals provided)? Why did you choose that specific target?

Maria: “We wanted at least 600 pounds of food or some items of food, because for BLA, we have a competition and that’s one of the requirements to get at least 600 cans of food.”

• How did you use marketing concepts learned in DECA—like market segmentation or promotion—to reach different groups (students, staff, community) and motivate them to donate?

Maria: “We definitely went to KDTV right away, made a lot of flyers, posted on our Instagram, and mainly targeted the people in BLA to spread to their friends outside of BLA as well.”

• Describe the actual day-to-day collection process. Where were the drop-off points, and how did you manage the inventory and security of the donations before drop-off?

Liana: “So, during lunch, we would, or during homeroom, at the very beginning of lunch, we would go down, um, into the cafeteria, the senior cafeteria, is that west or east?”

Maria: “The senior cafeteria.”

Liana: “In the senior cafeteria, and we would do that setup with posters on the corner of the table. We had to keep track on a Google Sheet of who from BLA donated and how much they donated. So, whenever someone would drop it off during lunch period, we’d record their name and their grade, and then how many food items they donated. At the end of lunch, we would bring all the food items to Mr. DiFranceso’s room.”

• What is the single most valuable business or leadership skill you gained from organizing this food drive that you couldn’t have learned just by studying for a test?

Liana: “Well, we did, we definitely did a lot of marketing. I feel like we learned about marketing, but it’s like implementing it; I feel like it’s another story. We knew about it, for example, as we went to KDTV, we posted on Instagram, and we put flyers around the school. We went to like, we used like word of mouth, they call it. We went to the teachers individually and asked them, and told people in the hallway. So, I’d say business.”

• Once the last box of donations was delivered and the drive officially wrapped up, what was the overriding feeling among your team? Was it relief, exhaustion, pride, or something else entirely? Can you describe that moment of closure?

Liana: “I think we were, we were happy with everything done.”

Maria: “It was very rewarding.”

Liana: “Yeah, rewarding. We were a bit tired after counting everything. (laughs) But-”

Maria: “Carrying.”

Liana: “Yeah, carrying it all. It was a bit heavy. (laughs) But it was, it felt, it was rewarding because we knew a lot of people would get food for Thanksgiving.”

Maria: “Yeah, we dropped it off Tuesday or Wednesday?”

Liana: “Tuesday.”

Maria: “I think it was Tuesday right before Thanksgiving. So, it was nice to know that it was gonna go to a lot of families.”

Kamiah: Oh, which one did you guys prefer more? The December one or like the normal one?

Maria: Like the pet one or like the normal one?

Liana: “I don’t know. They were a similar feel. I mean, they were both to drop it off here, do it like this. It was a similar feel. I’d say maybe thanksgiving just ’cause like I know it was going to people who needed it during the holidays.”

Maria: “Mm-hmm. I would say for me, probably the pet because I think we got a lot more like, like we all made toy, dog toys as a group. And so, we got a lot of involvement there instead of just donating items.”