This holiday season, the Choate community had an opportunity to come together in the spirit of giving back to those in need through a series of holiday donation drives. These drives were organized by Community Service Director Ms. Melissa Koomson and students from the Community Service Club. Although there have been donation drives for organizations such as Toys for Tots in the past, this is the first time that Choate conducted drives for different foundations for each form and the faculty body. The donation drives were announced during the last School Meeting of fall term and the deadline for donations was Thursday, December 15.
The idea for this event came to Ms. Koomson after receiving notifications from several foundations that they were looking for donations this holiday season. “It just seemed like this was a good opportunity for us to connect with each of the forms while also responding to the need that the organizations had.” said Ms. Koomson. She chose five different organizations for donation drives and worked with different student community service organizations to coordinate the event.
Each form was assigned a different donation drive. Third- formers were asked to bring non-perishable foods and hygiene products for the Wallingford Emergency Shelter. Ms. Koomson found that Choate Aids Immigrants and Refugees (CAIR) would be a perfect fit to help organize the fourth-form’s donation drive for a Ukrainian Relief foundation at a New Haven based church. This drive was for soup packets and other high protein meals such as quaker oats because they could be prepared with hot water and the organization already sent over necessary resources. “I think it’s a really brilliant solution because all that’s needed is hot water, and soup packets are very compact, so they should be easy to get there,” added Ms. Koomson.
Zainab Khokha ’24, a member of the Community Service Club and co-leader of The Mentorship Project assisted in the organization of the fifth-form’s drive for Gleanings Lovingly Offered in Wallingford (GLOW), a Wallingford based food pantry. Brooks Roach ’23, the project leader for Choate Veterans Support Group, was assigned to the sixth-form drive for the Marine Corps’s sponsored foundation, Toys for Tots. Lastly, faculty and staff were asked to bring gently used clothing for Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS).
The biggest challenge with organizing donation drives at Choate has been getting the Choate student body to contribute. There was talk to make these drives a competition between the forms to publicize the event but Ms. Koomson noted, “we’re so focused on always having competitions, and it’s really important that we just do what we need to do and there’s no reward other than, you know, you’re doing something that’s needed.” With Choate being such a privileged community, it is important that the student body is proactive about contributing to community service projects like donation drives.
Although buying items for donation drives may seem like a hassle for boarders, placing an online order for extra merchandise is well worth the effort given how much these contributions help those in need. Given the rising inflation during this holiday season, many families are struggling to make ends meet, so it is important that the school community “shows solidarity and support for the surrounding towns and people because it all comes back to humanity,” said Ms. Koomson. “I know that kids have the ability to donate so I hope they do that in the spirit of the holidays,” said Owen Sessine ’25, a co-leader of CAIR.
In the future, Ms. Koomson hopes to conduct more donation drives to continue giving back to the Wallingford community and other communities around the world. Donating to these foundations after the holiday season can even prove to be more helpful since there is usually an influx of donations at the end of the year. The Mentorship Project, a new initiative under the Community Service Club, plans on holding book donation drives to aid their efforts in providing educational and emotional support for children. “We’re really excited to expand the outreach of The Mentorship Project and run drives for textbooks and school supplies,” said Ava McClatchie ’24, a co-leader of the project.
In the coming months the Choate student body will likely have other opportunities to contribute to donation drives as more community members become involved in service. “I’m hoping that, after this year, people will see the collection drives in a new and different light and that in years to come we can take flight with all of this, and it could really become a big thing,” said Ms. Koomson.
