The Notre Dame Prep marching band held their 4th Annual Food Drive during its band camp, which ran from July 30 through August 3.
More than 1,380 food items were collected totaling 1,243 lbs. with an average of 18 items brought in per band member. The food was donated to Gleaners Community Food Bank in Pontiac.
Rising Notre Dame senior Nolan Weimer organized the drive as part of his Christian service project and has also assisted with the last two band camp food drives.
"It was great to see the drive grow from something my brother started four years ago to collecting twice the amount of donations today," Weimer said.
Band members Tom Frost, Vincent Larsson, Cooper Isham, Elizabeth Brouns and Theresa Carrier helped Weimer with counting and loading up the food.
Seven different marching band sections collected food throughout band camp with the flute section collecting the most items per person, followed by the low brass section. Bonus points were given for cereal, peanut butter and jelly, which were identified as high need items by Gleaners.
Since 2015, a total of more than 4,200 food items for needy organizations in Pontiac have been collected during four band camp food drives.
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
Follow Notre Dame on Twitter at @NDPMA.
About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org