Students at Bishop Seabury Academy are preparing for a chilly night outside to raise awareness for their annual food drive.

Thursday night, 17 members of the school’s Student Senate will wrap up in blankets and sleep outside in boxes to kick off the community service project.

Student Senate sponsor and teacher Bill Gollier said this is the third year that students have slept outside and on Friday morning, the students give a presentation to get the entire student body involved.

“It gets the student body energized, gets the kids excited about it, gets the word out to the community about it so we can collect more items,” he said.

Gollier said that having students sleep in the cold is a small price to pay if it helps bring in more items.

“If the weather’s cold and people see us out there, it helps them bring stuff up,” he said. “If it helps us collect two more items, it’s worth it.”

Students are collecting items for the Salvation Army, Trinity Episcopal Church Food Pantry, the Lawrence Community Center, the Ballard Center and Family Promise.

Students will also be doing community service projects during the day on Thursday before they head outside. They also are not allowed to eat for 24 hours.

“They can have coffee and hot chocolate and water,” Gollier said.

The students collected nearly 6,000 items last year and are setting that benchmark again for this year’s drive.

The food drive continues until Nov. 24. Donations can be dropped off at the school, 4120 Clinton Parkway.