Throughout the month of November, collection tables in the Kiva and in the Upper School grew full with Thanksgiving meal fixings destined for local families in need. When donations were finally sorted, bagged, and delivered to
Beverly Bootstraps on Friday, November 18, Shore families had provided 1,600 pounds of food for a total of 150 complete holiday meals.
"
It was thrilling to see the tables steadily fill up over the course of the month," said English and Latin teacher and community service coordinator Doug Lucey, "and I repeatedly heard kids and adults alike respond with house pride to the call for donations."
Just as in 2015, each of Shore's six all-school Houses worked to collect enough Thanksgiving food items such as stuffing mix, green beans, boxed mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce to make at least 20 compete meals. By the end of the drive, most Houses had exceeded that ambitious goal.
"In addition to surpassing our aim," said Lucey, "many fifth and eighth graders went above and beyond the call to weed out any breakable or expired items, and then to sort and bag the 150 individual meals." Upper School head Ben Kennedy and Lower School head Sara Knox were closely involved in the effort, coordinating student volunteers and helping with the final push to deliver 1,600 pounds of food via yellow school bus to Beverly Bootstraps.
At the non-profit's spacious new facility near Beverly Depot, students were eager to help Bootstraps' staff with shuttling meals from Shore's bus to the large weighing station, where each load was tallied by Heather Johnston, Director of Donor Relations.
"With the help of donors such as Shore's families," said Johnston, "Beverly Bootstraps Food Assistance Programs provide Beverly and Manchester residents in need with access to food through our Food Pantry. For the holidays, it's donations from food drives like the one at Shore that help our families enjoy their own special meal."
Last year, according to Johnston, Beverly Bootstraps served 2,522 individuals and 1,111 households at the Food Pantry, distributing a total of 307,720 pounds of food.
Shore partners with Bootstraps each year through a number of initiatives, including food drives, the
Giving Tree, and
United in Service.