Students at MICDS pass turkeys across their campus to donate to the St. Louis Area Foodbank / Photo by Bethany Prange
When these kids say “pass the turkey”, it is no joke!
For the ninth year in a row, students at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (MICDS) spent a chilly November morning passing frozen turkeys.
And no, they weren’t prepping for the world’s largest Thanksgiving dinner!
Since 2004, students and faculty at the Upper and Middle schools have been bringing in turkeys to donate to families in need.
Then, just before Thanksgiving, more than 600 students from the Upper School form a line stretching from one end of the campus to the other, passing donated frozen turkeys from student to student.
At the end of the line, St. Louis Area Foodbank staff load the poultry into our trucks. Before the end of the week, the Foodbank gives these turkeys out to our agencies who distribute the birds to families in need throughout the bi-state region.
This “Turkey Train” is not only great fun for the kids, but it lets them see firsthand the significant impact their donations can make.
See the Turkey Train first hand in this video from MICDS! https://youtu.be/sF2BIgUkO84
This year, MICDS students donated 7,751 pounds of turkey! Plus, the students in the Lower School donated more than 2,500 pounds of canned goods to go with the birds!
Altogether, the entire MICDS campus – more than 1,200 kids – donated 8,278 meals to families in need this holiday season!
The MICDS event represents one of the largest donations of food items to the St. Louis Food Bank at Thanksgiving.
“The Turkey Train was launched to provide a meaningful community service activity and experience that truly makes a difference for area families in need during the Thanksgiving holiday season,” says David Nowak, MICDS director of communications.
Watch great coverage of the Turkey Train from Fox 2 Now and Paul Schankman:
https://fox2now.com/2012/11/19/turkey-train-helps-feed-thousands-in-st-louis-area/
Bethany Prange is the communications coordinator at the St. Louis Area Foodbank
