There’s a lot of generous giving going on across the South Huntington School District as we look forward to Thanksgiving and the holiday season.  Each one of our schools has a Thanksgiving activity or collection going on that’s meant to help families in our community while getting students involved in acts of kindness that teach generosity and compassion.

 

At Countrywood Primary Center, students in Mrs. Trebour’s class held a Thanksgiving Dinner Donation drive to help local families in need. This was a great lesson to teach the students about compassion and kindness! After the collection, Mrs.Trebour will deliver the filled box of food to the Helping Hand Rescue Mission. Our Social Work team at Countrywood also had students get involved by inviting them to bring $1.00 to $5.00 cash to go towards purchasing supermarket gift cards for families with financial hardship. Their involvement in this heartfelt initiative helps create a lasting positive impact for our primary school families. 

 

At Oakwood Primary Center, the school collected non-perishable food items every Monday in November to support Walt Whitman’s Wildcat Food Pantry. In addition to Oakwood’s Wildcat Pantry donations, the primary center has their own “Tommy the Turkey.” Children and their families contribute to help families in need by making a financial donation and their donation is represented with a colored feather that adds to the beauty of Tommy the Turkey. The school also has their own “Giving Tree”, where staff and families can “adopt” an Oakwood child (and their younger siblings) in need, and buy holiday gifts for them. These efforts, with the help of the OW PTA, were led and organized by Oakwood’s Social Worker, Mr. Toledo.

This year, Birchwood Intermediate School collected both cash and food donations to give our families in need a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Students were encouraged to complete the Holiday Helping Hand and bring in $1 or more for the holiday drive. The classes who collected the most cash donations were entered into a raffle to win a special prize. In addition, Birchwood accepted donations of non-perishable items with a building wide goal for food donations. All classes had the opportunity to win a prize if the building goal was reached! Each grade was assigned specific items to bring in for donation as suggestions, which included 3rd graders bringing in boxed stuffing, instant potatoes, rice and/or pasta, and 4th graders contributing canned vegetables, canned soups, and/or cranberry sauce.

As Thanksgiving approaches at Maplewood Intermediate School, students were invited to participate by completing a Holiday Helping Hand to reflect on the many things they are thankful for. In addition to this activity, the intermediate school organized a community giving effort to help provide Thanksgiving dinners to Maplewood families in need. Each student was invited to contribute $5.00 or more along with the completed Holiday Helping Hand. All collected funds go directly toward purchasing food items to ensure every family can enjoy a warm and nourishing holiday meal. In addition, Maplewood’s Student Council held a Food Drive throughout November to help community members this season. 

At Silas Wood Sixth Grade Center, students and staff helped build their Turkey Toto by purchasing and decorating feathers and writing “Give Thanks” cards to show appreciation for friends, teachers, and staff members! Every feather bought added to the Turkey Toto display, with all proceeds going toward providing Thanksgiving meals and food items for families in the South Huntington community. Students and staff members could purchase a feather and “Give Thanks” cards outside Guidance during AM homeroom or select lunch periods. They then decorated their feathers with a message of thanks or appreciation to a friend, teacher, or staff member and were dropped off in the Turkey Toto Mailbox in Ms. Koala’s room. Each day, messages were delivered by our student runners, and feathers were added to the growing Turkey Toto display! All funds raised will go directly toward food gift cards for South Huntington families in need this Thanksgiving.

 

Stimson Middle School came together for a special initiative to support our community and practice the spirit of gratitude. The middle school hosted a Food and Donation Drive to collect essential supplies for local families in need. The drive featured a special school-wide mascot: Turkey Tom, who needed much help! The drive officially began on Monday, November 17th. For every non-perishable food item or monetary donation brought in, students received a special paper "feather." Students would then write one thing they are grateful for on their feather, and then add their feather to the large community display of Turkey Tom. The schoolwide challenge was to collect enough donations to fully feather Turkey Tom by Thanksgiving! Every feather represents an act of generosity and a moment of gratitude.

 

At Walt Whitman High School, the Wildcat Cares Food Pantry is nicely stocked thanks to the recent food donations from Birchwood during their Faculty vs. Parents Volleyball Game, plus the ongoing support from Stop & Shop.  Any student/family in the South Huntington School District is eligible to receive a food package from Wildcat Cares. No sign-up is needed, and any South Huntington School District family is welcome to come down to collect a food package! The Wildcat Cares Food Pantry is open every other Wednesday from 2:30 - 4:00 PM, with December 3rd and 17th being the last pick up days for 2025 before the new year. Also being offered this holiday season, the high school is providing supermarket gift cards to local families in need. 

 

In addition to each of our school building contributions, district-wide social workers held a Thanksgiving Food Drive to provide a wonderful holiday meal to our families in need. They kindly asked for non-perishable food items and monetary donations to help purchase perishable food items and to fill any gaps in the food collection. 

 

Thank you to all our South Huntington students and their families, our staff and faculty for all the generous support, and showing what the true meaning of Thanksgiving and our spirit of community is all about.

 

 

Birchwood Intermediate School students were encouraged to complete a Holiday Helping Hand and bring in $1 or more for the holiday drive.

 

 

The Student Council at Maplewood held a Food Drive to help support community members. 

 

 

Boxes of food and cooking ingredients were organized and distributed to families in need by Walt Whitman High School’s Wildcat Pantry volunteers.