Community · Midland
Midland High and Dow High turn rivalry week into a food drive, with donations collected at Friday’s game
MIDLAND, Mich. — Fans headed to Friday night’s Midland-Dow football game are being asked to bring something besides school colors: a can or box of food for neighbors who need it.
Midland High School and H.H. Dow High School will collect non-perishable food from Monday, Oct. 19, through Friday, Oct. 23, for the Midland County Food Assistance Network, Midland Public Schools said in an Oct. 16 announcement. The public can drop off donations at the crosstown game, which kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday at Midland Community Stadium.
Rivalry week normally pits the two schools against each other. This year they are pooling their effort, the district said. Inside each building, grade levels will compete to bring in the most food.
“I’m thrilled to see our Chemics and Chargers channel the energy of rivalry week into a shared commitment to serve through the Rally to Give food drive,” Yang Jiao, the district’s director of family and community engagement and belonging, said in the announcement.
“This initiative is one of the many ways our high schools come together each year for a purpose that reaches beyond the playing field,” Jiao said.
The drive is part of Rally to Give, a contest run by Saginaw television station WNEM and sponsored by Kroger in which mid-Michigan school districts try to collect the most meals through cash gifts and food donations. Midland’s two high schools will enter as one team, according to the district.
The Midland Daily News noted that pregame tailgates get going long before the 7 p.m. kickoff. Details on the contest are posted on WNEM’s Rally to Give page.
Sources:
Midland Public Schools, “MPS High Schools Team Up to Fight Hunger with Food Donation Drive,” Oct. 16, 2026, https://www.midlandps.org/sys/content/newspost/abcf29d785584bc7b5b9a863d5f7e5ea
Midland Daily News, “Midland schools unite for food drive during rivalry week,” Oct. 16, 2026, https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/midland-schools-food-drive-22481157.php
WNEM, “Rally to Give,” accessed Oct. 18, 2026, https://www.wnem.com/rally-to-give
Photo: Mrmiscellanious, “Midland-High-School-Midland-Michigan.jpg,” Aug. 26, 2005, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Midland-High-School-Midland-Michigan.jpg
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