In The Caldwells: Student Food Drive Produces 'Dinners In A Box'

Hoping to make the holiday season a bit brighter, students from across the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District held their annual food drives for 2015, collecting enough food to make more than 80 “dinners in a box.”

Each school coordinates their own food drive, assigning specific types of items to grades or homerooms to ensure that complete meal boxes or baskets are created to complement a turkey, school administrators explained.

At Lincoln Elementary School in Caldwell, fifth-grade teachers Christina Dunne and Abby Landau incorporated the collection into the fifth grade civics curriculum.

“We try to do several community service projects each year,” said Dunne. “Our annual food drive helps the students see firsthand how even a small gesture can go a long way. Each year, we collect the items needed to create a Thanksgiving feast, including gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and stuffing.”

Starting in early October, the fifth graders organize the food collection, asking students from each grade to bring in a specific item or two toward the Thanksgiving boxes, school administrators stated.

The students then decorate boxes with seasonal colors and motifs in which to store and distribute the items, creating “dinners in a box.”

This year, students produced 32 hand-decorated boxes complete with stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, vegetables, muffin and brownie mixes and other assorted food items.

The result? Forty boxes of food were donated to the Caldwell Food Pantry.

Students at Grover Cleveland Middle School also hold an annual food drive, taking a slightly different tact. According to school administrators, the school uses a “house system” to promote interaction between the students in all grades, and holds a friendly competition to challenge the students to bring in the various food items.

The houses then compete against one another to see which house can donate the most non-perishable food, administrators stated.

“In the past, we created bags of food with a variety of food items in each,” said eighth grade science teacher and house co-coordinator Adriana Halkias. “This year, we donated the items in bulk at the request of the food pantry, allowing them to customize the bags for small, medium and large families.”

Food boxes, bags and items were brought from all schools to Maria Burak, Director of Human Services.

Students from area high schools, including James Caldwell High School and Mount St. Dominic Academy, then helped Burak and other food pantry volunteers to sort the donations, removing any expired items, customizing the contents to meet the needs of various family sizes and adding turkeys donated by other organizations to complete the meal.

“The donations from schools, scouts, sport teams, churches and more are simply wonderful,” Burak said. “They are all helping to make the holidays a bit brighter for everyone.”

For more information on how to help or donate to the local food pantry, contact Burak at 973-403-4623.

Photo courtesy of the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District

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