Cascadia Community College is holding a food drive through Nov. 20 to help the Seattle Milk Fund and Kiwanis Club with their annual Thanksgiving Basket Drive.

Students from Cascadia’s English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are organizing the drive on campus.

“The ESL students wanted to get more involved with the community and the campus,” said senior associate faculty member Leah Schubert. “They are very excited and enthusiastic to be helping out people in need.”

Donations of canned and boxed food items are being accepted in Kodiak Corner, by the lower level welcome desk in the Cascadia library. The food items will be included in baskets given to families with children in the greater Seattle area. The Seattle Milk Fund has been holding the Thanksgiving Basket Drive for more than 60 years.

Schubert also is using this drive as a learning opportunity in her ESL classes. Lesson plans include vocabulary exercises about the donated food and about the Thanksgiving holiday.

“We’re trying to get our students to take what they learn in the classroom and use it in their communities, and this helps. The food drive makes the learning more concrete and for a purpose outside the classroom,” Schubert said.

The food drive is one part of Cascadia’s active service-learning program, which combines classroom instruction with community service.