In a good-natured but lopsided contest, the students of Manning High School and Manning Junior High School’s Future Farmers of America chapters handily defeated The Manning Times in the recent “Battle of the Cans” food drive.
The schools collected a whopping 1,800 cans, while the newspaper office brought in a respectable, but vastly outmatched, 300.
“This just proves what I’ve said all along—our students show up and show out when it comes to service,” said Manning FFA Director and teacher Logan Layne. “I hope the ladies at The Times don’t feel too bad. They gave it their best shot, but let’s be honest—we kicked their cans.”
The friendly competition, which ran through March 21, encouraged the community to support either team by dropping off canned goods at the newspaper office or at the schools. All donations benefited local charities: United Ministries, Well Watered Ministries and Vision by Design.
While The Manning Times staff may have lost the challenge, they didn’t lose their sense of humor.
“Let the record show we didn’t go down without a fight,” said Publisher Leigh Ann Maynard. “But honestly, we’re thrilled the FFA collected so much. We may have gotten our cans kicked, but the real winners are the families in our community who will benefit from the students’ hard work.”
The battle may be over, but both teams agree the effort was a success and hope to make it an annual event.
“We’re coming back next year,” Maynard added with a grin. “And we’ll be bringing more cans—and maybe a forklift.”
