The Willow School Joins National Effort to "Tackle Hunger"

The Willow School is joining the national effort to Tackle Hunger for Hunger Awareness Month this October. Willow students will be learning about food insecurity and participating in special fundraisers and volunteering opportunities.

Willow’s service learning program complements the age three to grade eight independent school’s virtues program. Each month, The Willow School focuses on a new virtue, and temperance is the virtue of the month for October.

“The virtue of temperance serves as a reminder to be thoughtful and moderate in our consumption as individuals and as a society,” said Willow’s Director of Outreach & Logistics, Sally Zeiner.

On October 17, Willow students and families will donate lunch money on Bag a Lunch, Help a Bunch day. Students will bring bags home to collect small change, and bags will be placed in classrooms and offices throughout the school to collect funds for Table to Table.

Table to Table is a community based food rescue program that collects prepared and perishable food that would otherwise be wasted from 200 supermarkets, distributors, and restaurants, delivering the food to organizations that serve the hungry in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties. Table to Table donates food to over 160 community organizations including soup kitchens, homeless shelters, after-school programs, and homes for the elderly.

On October 23, Willow families, teachers, and students will join America's Grow-a-Row to glean apples at Riamede Farm in Chester. The apples that Willow volunteers collect will be donated to the Community FoodBank of NJ.

America’s Grow-a-Row, located in Pittstown, NJ, is a non-profit organization that grows and gleans fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables that are donated to those facing hunger throughout the state. With the help of over 9,000 volunteers, America’s Grow-a-Row donated more than 1.5 million pounds of farm fresh produce last year alone.

“It is no accident that we have chosen to focus on gleaning for our Hunger efforts this fall," Zeiner said. "Gleaning fits naturally with Willow’s emphasis on sustainability. With 40% of the food that we grow ending up in a landfill, supporting gleaning represents our concern for the unintended consequences of our agricultural practices, as well as our desire to provide healthy food for families facing food insecurity.”

This year’s effort to Tackle Hunger builds on a service learning project Willow’s fourth graders undertook last year. Willow’s fourth grade students led a Thanksgiving food drive, partnering with the Food Bank Network of Somerset County to provide 30 families with a full Thanksgiving meal. Willow community members donated over 1,200 food items last Thanksgiving. Students, teachers, and parents participated in a human chain to meaningfully deliver the food from the school to the food bank vehicle. Watch a video of the human chain below!

The Willow School emphasizes true academic excellence in an inquiry-based learning environment where virtues are embedded into everything we do. Students learn to take responsibility for their own education and grow into communicative, collaborative leaders in their school community and beyond. Learn more at willowschool.org.