Coming to an end on November 22, the Thanksgiving Food Drive has been a huge success! The goal of the food drive is to provide meals for families in Lakewood suffering from food insecurity and give them a chance at enjoying Thanksgiving the same way that all of us do. The St. Eds community ended up raising more than $30,000! This will allow our partners the Lakewood Charitable Assistance Corporation to provide a meal for over 600 families in Lakewood. Different from last year, when students were urged to make food donations, this year’s food drive accepted cash or online monetary donations that cover the cost for a Thanksgiving feast. Just for some perspective, $1.00 purchases a can of cranberry sauce, $5.00 purchases sweet potatoes and dinner rolls, $10.00 purchases mashed potatoes, gravy, and pumpkin pie, $25 purchases turkey and stuffing, and $50 purchases a full Thanksgiving dinner. What makes this so special is the way that Eds students helped build relationships within the community at the same time through the advisory and class competitions.

The class with the most money donated was treated to a pizza party. Each advisory also had the opportunity to challenge another advisory to competition, and the winner gets to count the other advisory’s money as their own in the race for the pizza party. The games included dodgeball, basketball, flag football, trivia, and many more team-building activities. There is also always a service element to the Thanksgiving Food Drive, and this year it was encouraging students to do acts of service that correlate to the amount they wish to donate. For example, students could have done household chores, raked their neighbors’ leaves, or even help make their family’s Thanksgiving meal. The intended impact that this Food Drive hoped to spark was the “students’ desire to have more of a powerful impact for those closest to them and kickstart the holiday season focused on servant leadership, generosity, and spreading joy.”

We most definitely fulfilled that goal, so thank you to everyone who donated!