The Cupertino Courier

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Automotive tech students at De Anza College delivered

By Hugh Biggar

Just in time for the holidays, Cupertino Community Services is 8,000 cans of food richer thanks to the efforts of De Anza College's automotive technology program. The donation is the largest donation by a single group in the program's history.

Thirty students from the program delivered four truckloads of food on Nov. 9 to the CCS food pantry. The pantry provides food items for hungry individuals and families throughout the West Valley including those from Los Gatos, Saratoga and West San Jose.

"This will help us provide food to 700-1,000 individuals per month," Kim Ferm, a program director for CCS, said in an email. "It's a valuable community service."

Michael Brandt, an automotive instructor at De Anza, said the canned food drive has been a department tradition for nearly 20 years.

"The food drive gives everybody in the program a sense of pride," he said. Brandt, who has been involved with the automotive program as a teacher and student for more than 30 years, said the secret to the program's success is creating a competition among the different classes.

"There is an interclass rivalry for bragging rights and opportunity for students to team up for a cause," he said of the program's three tracks--engine, chassis and tune-up. The program that collects the most canned food, with some students seeking contributions online, gets first choice at a pizza victory party.

"With these students, it's like poker," Brandt said. "They are always trying to outbid each other."

This year, the chassis students won the top honor for donations, collecting 4,062 cans.

Even so, the food drive benefited each of the automotive program's 75 students, Brandt said.

"It gives us a sense of pride," he said. "And once the students start unloading the trucks and stocking the pantry and see how its going to help, they feel rewarded."

For more information on Cupertino Community Services, including its December Adopt-a-Family program, visit www.cupertinocommunityservices.org, or call 408.255.8033.