On January 20 the entire student body came together to package more than 156,000 meals to send to starving children in the Philippines and Haiti. As part of the MLK Day celebrations, Deerfield Academy partnered with Kids Against Hunger, a non-profit organization that ships meals around the world to fight hunger.
Needless to say, the event was a success. Not only did Deerfield reach its goal of 133,000 meals, it exceeded it by more than 20,000 meals.
What was even more important to Allie Gerber ’14, who came up with this idea, was getting everyone involved. “It’s not just about donating money,” Gerber explained. “It’s about working together for a common purpose.”
The Community Service Board began planning the event in November. “Tt was a long process,” said Isabella Tang ’14, a member of the Community Service Board. “We didn’t know if it was going to be a success. We had to fundraise a lot of money in a short period of time.”
Gerber echoed these thoughts, explaining, “We had a time crunch, and I am proud of the work everyone did. It was a huge collaboration, and everyone had many good fundraising ideas.”
These ideas included selling croissants and raffle tickets and organizing an X-box NHL tournament to raise money. Much work was put into the events, and seeing it all play out on MLK Day made all the effort worth it to the Community Service Board.
“I am so proud of the work Deerfield Academy students have done,” continued Gerber. “I am so emotional about it! It’s amazing how much work the whole school could complete.”
Kids Against Hunger arrived on campus on Sunday afternoon. Many students and faculty unloaded the trucks filled with food and packaging material into the gym, where the event took place the following morning. Thanks to the help of volunteers, the gym quickly turned into a veritable factory.
“It was really community building,” reflected Kay Calloway ’14 on the food-packaging activity. “It was really productive, and I had a nice time. Working together towards a common goal was really good for Deerfield.”