The Rotary Club of Summerville announced the winner of its ninth annual “Kick Off to End Hunger” canned food competition last month during halftime of a Summerville High School vs. Ft. Dorchester High School football game.

This year, Summerville High won the trophy, which they’ll keep until next year.

Rotarians have a long-standing tradition of serving the greater Summerville community, and an important issue facing the area is hunger. The club’s motto, “Service Above Self,” is the foundation by which it strives to make Summerville a better place to live.

Combined, the students collected 3,074 pounds of food over a two-week period. The food collected by each school will remain in their respective food pantries to assist both students and their families in need. Over the past nine years, the two schools combined have donated more than 35,000 pounds of food.

In other news, Summerville Rotarians recently sorted and boxed 822 books for second graders in DD2 schools.

“We’ll be delivering to the schools and reading to them while discussing water safety in the coming weeks,” according to leader Ellen Priest.

She and Maurice Brown serve as co-chairs of the literacy project and were joined by Club President Hunter Jackson, Secretary Linda Art, members Marina Lutter, Beth Myers, Kathy Edwins Tatum, Art Nor and volunteer Marilyn Schneider Nor.

“This dream team knocked it out in less than an hour,” she said.