Seventh and eighth graders at Turlock Junior High School came together this month to collect canned food items for Turlock Together, and when the nonprofit organization came to pick up the school’s donation on Friday morning the results were impressive.

Students were able to collect enough cans to fill up 40 of Turlock Together’s iconic blue barrels — enough room for close to 10,000 cans — which will provide 15,000 pounds of food for the city’s less fortunate this holiday season. As one of close to 70 locations throughout town collecting cans for the organization, TJHS’ large donation will account for about a quarter of Turlock Together’s total haul.

While all students are encouraged to donate to the cause via blue barrels scattered around campus, History teachers Dustin Christian, Jeff Kleiner and Kayla Amador added a friendly competition between their classes into the mix, with the class that brought in the most cans receiving a pizza party.

“I like the competitiveness, and I think it really inspired everyone to bring more cans in to help out around the holiday times,” said student Martin Bertal, who brought in a total of 110 cans. “It’s helping to make the community a better place and really helping out people that need it.”