Traffic was heavy when the Method field was packed with over 5,500 people attending the funeral of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha. That day on Feb. 12th, 2015, two days after the attack, mourners gathered at the tightly-packed Method Road Soccer Complex at the North Carolina State University campus, to mourn the loss of the three young

college students. Just 5 minutes away from the field was where the Abu Salha sisters had attended high school years prior at the Drive, with Yusor graduating in 2011 and Razan just 2 years after. The crowd was composed of family, friends, community members, and those choosing to stand in solidarity, shocked by the event of a hateful attack spanning just 36 seconds that changed the lives of people around the world.

One comment under the Facebook post announcing the funeral wrote, “Prayers for family, such a terrible tragedy. Lives are forever changed…What is our world becoming?”

“They were loved by everyone,” said Patricia Hornick, English teacher at Athens Drive High School. Hornick taught the two sisters, who were a part of the Athens Oracle newspaper. “I felt like I had to do something, so I started a food drive to carry on their legacy,” said Hornick.

Ten years ago, Hornick began a food drive at Athens to honor her former students, where over 1,600 cans were collected.

Deah, Yusor, and Razan all aspired to make the world a better place. Deah, 23, was a second-year student, studying to become a dentist at the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry in Chapel Hill. Yusor, 21, whom he married just six weeks before the shooting, planned to join him in the fall. Razan, 19, was a second-year student at North Carolina State University’s College of Design, majoring in architecture and design.

Yusor and Razan were heavily involved in community service in and out of school. Razan would assist in packing meals for the homeless in her free time. Barakat worked to provide free dental care to community members in need and had even planned a service trip abroad to provide care to Syrian children before the shooting. To garner financial support for these services, Barakat began a Youcare fundraiser (now a part of GoFundMe) to meet his target goal of $20,000. After his passing, the fundraiser raised over $300,000 to support the effort.

Last February, Governor Roy Cooper declared Feb. 10th to be Our Three Winners Day to recognize their community-oriented approach in leading their lives and the positive impact it has left on communities at large. After their passing, initiatives like the LightHouse Project emerged to take on their goals and aspirations. Through the Light House Project began the annual Feed Their Legacy food drive to carry on the legacy of Our Three Winners.

Throughout the years, the food drive has evolved.

“It went from being led primarily by adults to high schoolers and college students taking the lead,“ said Bilal Sadi, junior. This is his second year leading the food drive at Athens.

“After seeing the work my dad did and all the ways it benefited the community, I knew I wanted to play a bigger part in the food drive,” said Sadi.

Last year, the Light House Project received just under 7,000 items in donations to the Central Eastern Food Bank of North Carolina.

“Since 2015, the food drive has worked to generate approximately 400,000 meals for North Carolinians in need, becoming the largest third-party food drive for the Food Bank Of Central and Eastern North Carolina,” said Sadi.

The yearly food drive carries on to honor the legacy of Deah, Yusor, and Razan, and students interested in donating can support the cause by dropping off non-perishable donations in Ms. George’s room in room 2822 or choosing to donate online at Justgiving.com. The final collection of the donated items will occur at the LightHouse Project on Saturday, March 1st from 10-2 pm, where students and people from the community can help pack the items to ship to the food bank. Sadi and other students hope that the amount donated will surpass previous years, and hope to be able to raise a total of 450,000 meals. Deah, Yusor, and Razan embody the nurturing spirit of supporting those in need, inspiring many to continue pursuing good works.

“Since it’s the 10th anniversary of the drive, we need help from students to make it the most impactful,” said Sadi.