Local Students Help Others this Thanksgiving Season (PHOTOS)

The scene was organized chaos at its best as Douglas principal Chris Whitbeck, a dozen parent volunteers and one hundred 5^th and 6^th grade students took over the school’s cafetorium last Wednesday afternoon.

Their mission: assemble 120 apple pies.

In its eighth year, the Thanksgiving Apple Pie Project was originally Whitbeck’s idea. But the implementation is all done by the Leadership Team at . Comprised of student volunteers, the group plans a monthly social action project. Every November, it’s pie mania for a cause.

The kids solicited orders for the pies, many from parents who elected to donate them instead of taking them home. The donated pies will be brought to Hogan Regional Center’s  Residence for Intellectually Disabled Adults and will serve as dessert for the residents’ holiday dinner. Proceeds from the sale will fund holiday gifts for local children; the Douglas community plans to “adopt” a family through the Acton Housing Authority.

Parent volunteer Jackie Burak was at the end of the assembly line adding top crusts to the pies.

”There’s a lot of good teamwork that goes on,” Burak shared. “The kids like to see how fast they can do the job. A lot of the families donate the pies, so that’s nice.”

Zac Shamah, a 6^th grader who was working with Ethan Croke, Jeff Davis, Josh Azar and Jake Abramowitz, was confident that he and his partners peeled more apples and assembled more pies than any of their peers.

“Some groups claimed they came close to us, but they didn’t,” Zac stated. “We made 21 pies.”

Next month, a group of Douglas students chosen at random will shop for gifts for the fundraiser’s beneficiaries.

After the recent Thanksgiving meal distribution day, which provided 265 families with ingredients for their holiday meals, the inventory was running low.

Manager Kathy Casaletto, who is responsible for ensuring that the shelves are stocked, was able to solve this problem with one email. The message’s recipient:  R.J. Grey social studies teacher and food pantry liaison, Tim Nolan.

Nolan shared the request with students of the 8 Gold team. The eighth graders immediately sprang into action and launched Five Days for the Food Pantry.

“They communicated the need with daily announcements and flyers,” said Nolan. “They organized and boxed each day’s donations in the school lobby.” 

The boxes were stored in math teacher Annemarie Gaebel’s classroom until Friday, when the food pantry’s truck arrived to pick up the donations.

Adding that other teams also made pointed collection efforts, Nolan expressed delight at the drive’s results.

“We all know what a tremendous difference can be made for a worthy cause when so many pitch in all together, at once,” Nolan stated. “We are proud to do this important community service for the pantry.”

Max Clark, a student who helped load the truck on Friday, called his classmates’ efforts “an act of heroism. We helped needy people without food get food.”

Casaletto appreciates the partnership that exists between the school and the food pantry.

“For many years, has made their students aware of hunger insecurity in our community by involving them in enormous food drives,” Casaletto said. “We can count on the staff and students to rally and help fill our depleted shelves. The pantry volunteers and our clients are grateful for their generous help.”