courtesy Kate Kiely/Special to the town Crier St. Francis freshmen Robert Nessler and Lexie Lanoie unload the truck as their classmates sort and package the food.

St. Francis High School students raised money to purchase groceries for 569 families in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties as part of the school’s annual Thanksgiving Food Drive.

The Thanksgiving Food Drive has been a Service Club tradition for more than 30 years. Donations this year totaled more than $18,000.

Nearly 100 student volunteers, along with faculty and staff members, assembled individual packages containing a turkey and other staples and loaded trucks for distribution. The food was distributed with help from representatives of local St. Vincent DePaul societies, the Catholic Worker organization of Redwood City, and social workers and nurses from El Camino Hospital.

English teacher Chris Bradford’s freshman homeroom raised a class-high of $537.

“Mr. Bradford did a great job of getting his students focused and fired up about this important cause,” said Service Club moderator Mark Busbin.

The St. Francis Service Club manages the Thanksgiving Food Drive, two blood drives, a coat drive and a shoe drive, among other service activities.