The Seward County Community College Auto Body Collision Repair program in Liberal, Kan., is collecting food and other goods for gift baskets that will help provide for struggling families on Thanksgiving.

The class is hoping to create and deliver 20 baskets to different families, Amberley Taylor reports in the community college’s Crusader News.

The food drive is part of a nine-week family project as an alternative to freshman seminar. During the project, the students were asked to think about something they could do to give back to the community. They decided to help students and families who are need this Thanksgiving.

“The intent of the pilot program is to help students meet the SCCC college outcomes,” said Travis Combs, dean of Industrial Technology and Continuing Education.

Both the students and their instructors are excited about the outcome of the nine-week program.

“The students wanted to find a way to help their peers who might not be fortunate enough to have a Thanksgiving dinner,” collision repair instructor Randall Levings said. “The nine-week program we participated in was very successful in my eyes.”

Levings also mentioned that it brought the students and instructors closer to each other and helped them understand themselves in different ways.

“It was a way for the students to get to know themselves and their peers in class,” Levings said.