Guest Blogger: Kit Bowie

November 11, 2014

Please enjoy this post from our dear friend Kit Bowie, Counseling Assistant at Doherty High School.

What is Harvest of Love at Doherty High School? Harvest has become one of Doherty’s best traditions. Originally, Mr. Vigil (recently retired principal at Doherty), then a teacher, organized a food drive through the Social Studies Department, donating food collected to Care and Share. In those early days, the food that was collected at Doherty fit in the back of a pick-up truck. In the mid-90’s, Care and Share started the Harvest of Love High School Challenge. Recognizing the urgent need to help those in need in 1997, Mr. Vigil asked the members of student council to help with the food drive for the first time. In 1998, he officially asked council to take over the drive in order to get the whole school involved.

In our early stages of Harvest, the competition to beat the area high schools was the motivation, as high school students thrive on a competition of any sort. Staff and students have come to realize that Harvest is not about the competition, it’s about being Spartan Strong. Harvest of Love at Doherty has grown from collecting 18,103 pounds of food in 1998 to collecting 464,176 pounds in 2013!

Helping people in need takes no special talent–anyone can help. Harvest gives the students and staff who choose to participate, whether at the staff student basketball game, lunch activities, the 3rd hour class competition, the pasta dinner, or Noise for the Needy, a sense that their actions have a direct impact on others. When food or money is donated, there is something visible to show, but more importantly the support Doherty provides with the food drive is simply letting people in the community know that we care. Harvest shows us all that it is our responsibility to help those that have less. There is no better feeling than knowing you’ve made a positive difference in another person’s life – to give someone HOPE. That is what Harvest of Love at Doherty is about – HOPE.