Jack Emery Food Drive kicks off with annual team brunch event at MHS

Student and staff representatives from all of our Milpitas Unified School District schools and departments came together for the 2023 Jack Emery Kickoff Brunch at Milpitas High School on Monday, November 6.

Nhuhao Nguyen, 2023-24 Milpitas HS Associated Student Body (ASB) President and Jack Emery District Coordinator, introduced herself and her Jack Emery team leaders to the MUSD delegates. The enthusiastic group was inspired by Jack Emery’s story and legacy, and established friendly competitions to meet President Nguyen’s district goal, “I really like seeing our district come together to serve our community. …I’d like to see more donations coming in to meet our goals and surpass last year’s district goal (of 140,000).”

Each school or department team finds creative ways to reach their families, community partners and business to help solicit canned foods and/or monetary donations. All donations will be delivered to the Milpitas Food Pantry for distribution to the most vulnerable families within our community.

“This is a very special day because we’re launching community,” said Superintendent Cheryl Jordan, who sat with members of the MUSD Board of Education as well as Milpitas Food Pantry Director Karen Kolander for the kickoff. “This fun competition that we have between our schools demonstrates how we represent our community, and I am proud to be part of this Milpitas family and to be sitting here today in the MHS library amongst all of you as one family.”

“Jack Emery, to me, is more than a tradition that we do every year. It is so important to our community because the Bay Area is such a hard area to live in,” said Nguyen. “I love to give back to my community and I really want to see our students together also give back to our community and carry on that tradition.”

This year, Nguyen is planning more events around the Jack Emery such as a 5K fun run on Saturday, December 9 to raise awareness and offer additional opportunities for community members to donate to the food drive. From now thru Friday, December 8, donations can be made at any of the MUSD school sites and departments. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for what you do as part of our community family,” said Kolander, who shared the deep impact the Jack Emery Food Drive makes to our most vulnerable individuals and families.

---