Yellowknife (Dec 24/03) - When workers with the Salvation Army arrived at Ecole St. Joseph last Wednesday to pick up food for the annual can drive, they discovered they would need to make two trips.

At the year-end assembly, the grand total of non-perishable goods collected by the school was revealed -- 5,235 different food items.

That was good reason for a party, and a party was had by all.

Students and staff filed into the gym Friday for an assembly filled with dancing, pie throwing and even three teachers getting their heads shaved for the cause.

The total was a record for the 11-year history of the can drive.

"This year was the most we've ever collected," says teacher Corey Taylor.

Taylor's Grade 7/8 homeroom class organized the effort, visiting classrooms each day to fill milk crates with their daily haul.

Taylor attributes some of the year's success to the incentives given to the student body.

Once the collection began Dec. 1, Taylor's class picked a "souper-duper" donator of the day, with the winning class receiving a pizza party last Friday.

A few individual students put a good dent in the collection drive themselves this year. Grade 8 student Dustin Talbot bought over $200 worth of food with his own money.

Taylor says Talbot's father matched that donation, adding considerably to the total.

Grade 2 student Sydney Friesen did her part by asking friends to bring non-perishable food instead of gifts.

That's where the spirit of Christmas giving comes in, says Taylor.

"They're happy to help out. They know it's for people who may not be as fortunate as themselves," he says.