Wooster School Turkey Drive Provides 192 Turkeys for Thanksgiving

 

With a crisp cold morning and plenty of sunshine, this year’s turkey drive was a huge success for the Daily Bread Food Pantry in Danbury. The Wooster team rolled into the Daily Bread parking lot Monday morning with 192turkeys! The smile on the Daily Bread coordinator’s face was wide!

The success of the turkey drive was wonderfully created by the heart-warming collective efforts of families from throughout Wooster’s Upper, Middle, and Lower Schools as well as staff and faculty, alumni, and the board of trustees. Starting at 7:30 am turkeys came flying in at a steady pace. Upper School students Max Levine, Elizabeth Ashton, Gib Shea, Jess Oren, Jess Bauer, Julia Bauer, and Bethany Easonkept busy shuttling turkeys and other donated food items from vehicles to our own truck until 9 o’clock. Many thanks to Noel Dominguez for his help loading the truck all morning long.

Once the collection on campus was complete the students along with Rev. Lingle, Ms. Najman, and Mr. Dominguez made the delivery. Upon their arrival Daily Bread’s event coordinator Jill Shaw got the students directly involved in distributing the many items that made up the Thanksgiving bags that each guest received. Senior Max Levine said he had never seen so many people in line for a Thanksgiving meal.  Over 400 turkeys and meals were distributed over the course of the morning. Elizabeth Ashton was energized by the work of helping people get their bags to cars and home.  She noted, “It is great to know that so many people will have a full thanksgiving feast who otherwise might go hungry.” Later in the morning students were able to rotate into the pantry area to help restock shelves with new donations of canned vegetables, fruit, pasta, rice, beans, tomatoes and other staple items.

Coordinator Jill Shaw and her team expressed their gratitude for Wooster’s contributions and hands on assistance with words and hugs as the team prepared to return to campus. “You were a wonderful help!  Come back next year!” was the refrain as they headed to the car.

Thank you to each and every person who supported the organization, promotion and collection for this year’s turkey drive. Our collective effort speaks of the values that a Wooster education strives to instill beyond the classroom, to care for needs of others when we have opportunities because the blessings of our lives are not meant to be kept only to ourselves but multiplied into the world around us.