Schools
School's Thanksgiving Food Drive Nets More Than 2,000 Pounds
Shore Country Day School's annual drive benefits more than 120 families in Beverly and surrounding areas.
Donations to Shore Country Day School’s Thanksgiving Food Drive this year totaled a record 2,429 pounds of items, which go to benefit over 120 local families served by the non-profit Beverly Bootstraps.
“The total numbers are astounding,” said English and Latin teacher Doug Lucey, who helped to organize the drive. “Last year we donated a little over 1,300 pounds. This year we shattered that mark - and then some - with a total of over 2,400!”
Beginning in early November, students, faculty, staff, and families at the Beverly school were assigned donation categories - such as holiday sides, desserts, or beverages - and worked together in Shore’s Hogwarts-like “House” system to collect their items. The goal was to put together complete holiday meal bags to complement Thanksgiving turkeys provided by Beverly Bootstraps.
Lucey said, “The new House system obviously kicked our community into high gear, and individuals took incredible pride in their involvement in this important issue. [Fifth grade teacher] Mullery Doar deserves huge credit for mobilizing the fifth grade and Lower School Senate. They did all the intricate sorting, counting, and packing. [History teacher] Pat Coyle and the Upper School Senate deserve praise too for their motivational announcements to Grades 6-9.”
Fifth grade’s Doar admitted, “I was overwhelmed by the number of contributions and the sheer energy the students brought to this drive. All together, the total numbers enabled us to provide meal bags for over 120 families. The lion’s share of the credit really goes to the kids - my fifth graders were thrilled to work together to sort and count donations and deliver them to the food pantry.”
According to Beverly Bootstraps’ Heather Johnston, Director of Donor Relations, “We were genuinely shocked by the quantity of food - the students just carried bag after bag into the pantry. Their enthusiasm was tremendous.”
Shore’s Thanksgiving Food Drive is just one of the school’s holiday traditions. The Giving Tree program - which provides gifts for needy local children - continues through December.
