The Fourth Annual Mountain View Middle School Turkey Trot of Wednesday, Nov. 22, gave students a chance for some festive holiday fun, but it also brought their attention to a serious social issue.

“The Turkey Trot’s a good time for the students and the teachers right before the (Thanksgiving) holiday, but the main thing is that we’re raising donations for the food bank,” said Assistant Principal Fred Deppe, who first introduced the event to the school.

The rigorous 2-mile course of the Turkey Trot loops around the campus grounds, starting from the soccer fields and continuing through a leg-burning climb students must ascend twice before crossing the finish line about 10 yards away from the front doors.

Nearly all of the school’s students participated in the event, with the entry fee being a donation to the Goffstown Networks Food Pantry.

“The Thanksgiving holiday has so much to do with food, we want to make sure the kids also understand that there are less fortunate people,” said Deppe. And though his message was somber, Deppe brought an air of festivity by competing in the trot wearing a turkey costume.

This year’s food drive raised 3,000 items for the food pantry, said student council advisor and EMT Robin Raymond, who coordinated the drive with the student council.

“The students were excited to bring in their food donations,” said Raymond, who added that the student council’s annual fall tradition of hosting a food drive dovetailed nicely with the Turkey Trot.

This year’s event had a three-pronged set of objectives, said parent volunteer director Liz Veilleux. Raising donations for the food drive stood as the occasion’s primary goal, while promoting school spirit through the Goffstown colors of maroon and white, and stimulating good health through exercise.

“You will see some students who walk the course, but a lot of them will run it and really try to compete,” said Veilleux, the parent of a Mountain View eighth-grade student and member of the Mountain View Partnership.

Prizes in this year’s event included drawstring backpacks from Granite Fundraising of Manchester, Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards, and ice cream coupons at the school’s Hilltop Cafe for any students who beat Deppe through the course.

Other donors to the event included Mack’s Apples of Londonderry, Stonyfield Farm of Londonderry and a special appearance from Manchester Wolves arena football team mascot, Blitz.

The Turkey Trot was broken into two races, with seventh- and eighth-graders taking the first run, and fifth- and sixth-graders following in a second event.

Eighth-grader Collin Burque completed the first race in just under 15 minutes, coming in first place after spending most of the run trailing friend Jake Swett, who finished in second place a split second after Burque.

After the students had finished the race, the massive tide of adolescent athletes gathered in front of the school to hear remarks from Deppe, who congratulated them for their efforts.

A poignant message came from Goffstown Networks Food Pantry volunteer Dave Greiner, who reminded students why they had collected food for the event.

“Thanksgiving is a day where we remember all we’re thankful for,” Greiner said, “and I know I’m thankful that I’ve never been hungry – I mean the kind of hunger where you come home from school or from work, and there’s nothing in the house for you to eat. Luckily, none of us know what that’s like.

“Thanks to your generosity, there’s a lot of families that won’t go hungry this holiday,” Greiner said.