Lily Shi

National Honor Society Co-President Yasmin Sudarsanam (12) serves a brookie to Hannah Levanon (12) as part of NHS and Key Club’s joint bake sale. Over half of the eleven the clubs sold out their goods during the two-day event.

Clubs sold $1795 worth of goods during a fundraiser for the soup kitchen Martha’s Kitchen on Tuesday and Thursday in the Quad.

Students bought items like stickers and pins from Robotics and tiramisu, cookies and other baked goods from NHS and Key Club’s joint bake sale. Senior Ariana Gauba sold instant ramen and temporary tattoos for the MOSS Club and Student Diversity Coalition, respectively.

“[The fundraiser] is a great way to promote clubs and bring in new members,” Ariana said. “It encourages clubs to take initiative and host events that connect to their mission. For the Harker community, fundraisers like this really bring people together, because everyone’s super friendly, whether they’re selling or buying.”

Over half of the eleven the clubs sold out their goods during the two-day event. Frosh Terry Li bought ramen and hwachae, a Korean fruit punch, from Medical Club. 

“It’s really cool that clubs can come together and do this because it probably takes a lot of communication and planning, but there are so many options, and it’s turning out really well,” Terry said. “If I’m part of any clubs in the future, I would definitely want to come participate in this.”

The club fundraiser was part of Martha’s Kitchen Food Fight, a monthslong competition between Bay Area schools Saratoga High School, Hillbrook School, Saint Francis High School and Notre Dame High School to raise funds, donate food and volunteer at the soup kitchen in person. Students dropped off canned food in Manzanita Hall and helped prepare meals at Martha’s Kitchen to win points for Harker throughout the month. 

“Having this fundraiser be at school during the school day, where so many people can participate, is a great way to remind people that this is something we should be doing to try and help the community,” Kallie said. “Martha’s Kitchen is a great initiative to try and get high school students pumped for such an amazing cause, and it allows people to enjoy buying different things and see what their clubs are doing.”

Harker participated in the competition last year for the first time, holding a boba fundraiser to raise money. The ASB Outreach and Community Service Committees collaborated this year to expand Harker’s participation, covering the cost of all goods sold at the fundraiser and encouraging students to volunteer over Spring Break by offering boba. 

“Organizing the fundraiser in general was definitely a lot of work,” ASB Outreach Committee member Kallie Wang (11) said. “We had to contact all the clubs, coordinate with Ms. McCoy on what to buy and order ahead of time and talk to the kitchen about things like getting ice and hot water. It was a lot of moving parts to handle and make sure every club had what they needed, but it all came together really well in the end.”

Martha’s Kitchen, a soup kitchen established in 1981, provides almost 230,000 meals each month through hot meal and grocery programs to support families, unhoused people, veterans and seniors throughout San Jose. Ariana has volunteered at Martha’s Kitchen several times and emphasized the supportive community she found there.

“When I volunteered [at Martha’s Kitchen], I met a lot of cool people and we did a lot of good work to provide food to the community,” Ariana said. “This is such a cool initiative because it’s not just a competition between schools, but a way to make a real difference. Fundraising is a great way to do that, especially since people at Harker love buying ramen and other items.”

Donate to Martha’s Kitchen for Harker: https://form-renderer-app.donorperfect.io/give/marthas-kitchen/harker24 

Volunteer at Martha’s Kitchen: https://www.marthas-kitchen.org/volunteer