It was a tight race between Jonathon Malyon and his older sister, Krista, for the title of most food donated during Bellevue International School’s Hopelink Food Drive. The school held a friendly competition between grades to see which class could bring in the most donations.

The sibling rivalry led to huge results with the school pulling in more than 11,000 pounds of non-perishable food and toiletries for the local social service agency.

The total dollar value of donations collected by the school was estimated to be worth more than $11,000.

Hopelink, an Eastside organization that has served the homeless and low-income families since 1971, has six emergency service centers located in Bellevue, Kirkland, Northshore, Redmond, Shoreline and Snoqualmie Valley. The centers are a hub for individuals to gather assistance with food, clothing, shelter, transportation, family support and hope to Eastside families in crisis.

The senior class took the cake with an average of 125 pounds of food donated per person. The junior class trailed closely behind with 105 pounds of donations per person. The winners were announced at a special assembly held prior to the school’s winter Snowflake Dance.

Prior to the assembly, a male and female student from each grade were chosen as royalty to represent their classmates during the food drive. They were responsible for tracking the donations and motivating their classmates to continue bringing in food and toiletries for Hopelink.

The royalty representing the senior class were crowned King and Queen of the Snowflake Dance for bringing in the most donations.

Not to be out done by his older sister, Jonathon’s sixth grade class brought in 64 pounds of food donations per student, the most out of all the middle school grades.

“It turned out to be a great success and we brought in a lot more donations than last year,” Krista enthusiastically said. “My class ended up beating Jonathan’s class, so I won that battle,” she joked.

For more information on Hopelink or to find out how to donate visit www.hope-link.org.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at llarin@bellevuereporter.com or at 425-453-4602.