First All-School Food Donation of 2021-22 Picked Up

Upper Schoolers were hard at work on Tuesday, collecting Doorstep Donations bags full of food from around campus to donate to Neighborhood House. The truck bed was full and all told, the OES community donated 167 bags, roughly 3,340 meals, to the Portland-based organization with a goal of “reducing hunger and homelessness and educating both young and old.”

“Everyone on campus knew what we were up to as we repeatedly loaded the truck,” Upper School Community Engagement Coordinator and Spanish Teacher Maria McIvor said. “Everyone in the community was in on what was happening.”

Over the past month, the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools, held themed weeks of donations including canned foods, pasta products, and breakfast items. Then, on Tuesday, the Upper School’s Doorstep Donations team gathered all of the donations and loaded them into a Neighborhood House delivery truck.

“This work connects all three divisions and the impact is visible and tremendous when we all join together to use our power for good,” McIvor said. “And the work does not stop there—our next pick-up is in January, precisely when the shelves at Neighborhood House begin to thin out.”

Doorstep Donations bags filled the Lower School lobby, Middle School Chaplain Melissa Robinson’s office, and the Upper School Community Engagement office as the community continually donated through their classrooms and advisory groups.

“We love watching our Doorstep Donations bags fill in the classrooms,” All-School Community Engagement Coordinator Kristen Haferbecker said in an email to the Lower School community. “It is wonderful to see how one item, when added to others, can grow and grow!”

This continual community engagement project is happening all school year long. Collections will happen again in January, April, and June of 2022. Thank you for your donations, Aardvarks!