Some people think that kids today watch too much television, but occasionally something a kid sees on TV can inspire him to get up off the couch and try to make a difference in the world.

For 12-year-old Dane Cannon, it was a commercial for the new Fox TV show "The Moment of Truth." A girl, hooked up to a polygraph machine, is asked if she cares about the starving children in Africa. Wanting to answer truthfully, she says "no."

"It made me wonder why she said that, and then I got the idea to collect food for the food pantry," Dane said. "TV can do wonderful things."

Dane and three of his fellow honor students at La Mesa Junior High are holding a food drive in order to fulfill the Honor Society's community service requirement. All of the food collected by Dane, Jordan Dulay, Andie Hill and Kristie Moody through Tuesday will be donated to the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry.
"We're all best friends, so I told them about my idea and asked them if they wanted to help," Dane said. "They said, sure, they'd love to help."

Dane and his friends have decorated boxes and placed them in the Stater Bros., Ralphs, Food 4 Less and Albertsons stores that are located near their school in Canyon Country. They also placed a box in the La Mesa school office. It took a couple of hours to decorate all the boxes, Dane said.

"We used a bunch of decorative things like glitter, markers and colored paper. We tried to make them as attractive as possible so people would notice them," he said. "We're hoping to get as much food as possible, so that we can give it to the food pantry."

Those who would like to donate should look for the brightly decorated boxes at the Canyon Country grocery stores through Tuesday. Non-perishable food items can also be dropped off at the La Mesa office at 26623 May Way, Canyon Country.