Caned Food Drive

 The student council at school enthusiastically makes posters that no one spell checks.  Hence, the caned food drive.

There is a goal to collect 500 cans of food.  You know what that means; I know what that means.  Not everyone knows what that means.

On Monday, a 4th grader, one of my former students, told me, "I don't understand why they want us to bring 500 cans of food."

I said, "Well, they don't want everyone to bring 500.  The goal is to collect 500 cans so if everyone brought one, they would reach the goal."

"But why?" he wondered.

I didn't say it, but his family may just be a recipient of some of the cans.  What I did say was, "They will find someone who could use the food."

He walked away looking wholly unconvinced.

Yesterday, I was walking into the school and a 5th grader, one of my former students, was gazing at one of the signs.  She asked me, "What do they even give you if you bring in 500 cans?"

I said, "You don't need to bring 500 cans.  Just one can.  They want to collect 500 cans altogether."

She squinted her eyes at me like she was assessing if I were for real.

I don't know.  It's a caned food drive.  Maybe it isn't supposed to make sense.