Every November, families take some time off to give thanks and enjoy feasts full of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, but not everyone has access to those foods. With Thanksgiving around the corner, Bolles students work across campuses to gather food for the annual Woodland Acres Food Drive.
Each of the Bolles campuses hosts the drive for around three weeks before the collected goods are brought to the Woodland Acres Elementary School. Those who volunteer meet to pack the food into boxes and load them into buses before stopping by the middle school campus to pick up their collection as well.
“At the start of the drive every year, we put together a schedule for pickup, when it’s going to start, what date it’s going to conclude, who’s going to be picking up on a day-to-day basis,” explained Raina Swani ‘24, who has been a chairman for the drive since last year. “Pretty much, it’s just a lot of planning.”
“They do a really good job holding the food drive on the other campuses and pack everything up for us,” said Swani. “So the only time that we really have to coordinate with them is when we plan it at the beginning of the year, and then on the day that we visit the school.” With more food and volunteers, the group heads over to Woodland Acres for delivery.
“We help load all the food into their storage room and repackage it so it’s easier for the kids to take home,” explained Ava Mariotti ‘25, who’s been involved in the drive since last year. “Once we’re done with that, we usually hang out with the kids for a little while and do little classroom activities with them.”
Whether drawing together helping with the alphabet, Bolles volunteers enjoy taking
the opportunity to connect with the students. “Interaction of the kids is a lot of fun. They’re very, very sweet. They’re very grateful. It’s a lot of fun,” said Swani. “So usually we’re with kindergarten through fourth grade. We’re doing activities with them, just very simple and very fun.”
“It’s a great experience to be able to help people, and I love when we go and deliver the food because you can actually see the faces of all the kids and get to help in their classrooms,” said Mariotti.
“The food drive is a great opportunity for all of the students to get together and help to do something for our community,” Swani said. “I think it’s also important because it’s just a good community builder for everybody, both with helping people outside our community, building a strong community within Bolles and bringing everyone together to participate.”
