Though they didn't quite meet their goal of 2,011 for the year 2011, they came pretty close!

The Wareham High School Code Club and the 99 Restaurant donated 1,914 nonperishable food items to Damien's Place food pantry and 90 coats to St. Patrick's Church at the conclusion of the club's annual food and coat drive.

The Code Club, a community service organization, and the restaurant have teamed up for the drive for the past few years. Club co-adviser Kim Scott was thrilled with this year's results, which brought in hundreds additional food items for the pantry compared to last year.

"We went way up," Scott said, noting that she and co-adviser Lisa Ohman just wanted to beat last year's numbers, while the students had wanted to strive to bring in 2,011 items.

Representatives from the club met at the 99 Restaurant on Tuesday, December 13 to round up the donations.

"This is wonderful," Father Gabriel Healy, founder of Damien's Place, said as the students arrived with boxes upon boxes of food and coats.

Healy noted that food is desperately needed year-round. When more food comes in during the holiday season, though, "we're able to give extras," he said.

99 Restaurant employee Nancy Knight assisted with the drive at the restaurant. A 2001 graduate of Wareham High School, Knight was president of the Code Club during one of the years that she served.

"I'm so proud of everyone," Knight said. "To join up and join forces, it gets everyone involved."

The drive spurred a competition at the high school. The "advisory period" that brought in the most donations earned an ice cream social. Megan Kashner's students will be enjoying the tasty treats.

"It was a rivalry," Code Club member Ariel St. Germaine, a 9th grader, noted.

Code Club members counted the donations regularly and had to load up the boxes to prepare for the Damien's Place delivery.

"It was kind of fun putting all the things in boxes," said 10th grader Kristin Monty. "But it was kind of hard because you had to fit everything in the boxes perfectly."

The students' work wasn't done after collecting the donations at the 99.

"Now the fun begins," said Wareham High School Principal Scott Palladino. "Now we've got the truck to unload!"

The students, high school staff, and Knight then traveled down Cranberry Highway to Damien's Place to drop off the nonperishables. The team unloaded box after box of donations onto the pantry's loading dock as a steady stream of clients lined up at the front door of the building, waiting to pick up their allotments of food.

"It's good to see young people helping families," Healy said. "We always have new clients, new people coming every day."