Millburn Elementary Schools Help Feed 54 Local Families With Thanksgiving Food Drive

Nearly 200 Millburn residents in need will be able to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal, thanks to Millburn elementary school families and staff who donated 120 boxes of food donations this week.

The annual Thanksgiving Food Drive is sponsored by the Community Outreach Committee of the Millburn-Short Hills Conference of Parents and Teachers, and coordinated with the assistance of the St. Stephen’s Church Food Pantry, Down the Block, the Millburn Fire Department and the Millburn Board of Education.

The food drive ensures that 54 Millburn township families – nearly 198 people – will receive a total of 65 ShopRite turkeys, a cornucopia of Thanksgiving staples, and more than $2,500 in cash. As part of the food drive, each student was requested to send in $2, which was used to purchase ShopRite gift cards for each family.

Members of the Millburn Fire Department volunteered to deliver the boxes to each family. This year’s drive was so successful that 15 additional boxes of much-needed food were delivered to the Food Pantry at St. Stephen’s Church on Main Street, to stock it with provisions for the upcoming winter.

The community also donated over 36 enormous boxes full of leftover Halloween candy that was sent to Operation Shoebox NJ for U.S troops deployed overseas.

The Community Outreach Committee is chaired by Jennifer Barry and Ann Marie Petrocelli, and is made up of representatives from each of the five district elementary schools: Kristin Sterling and Robin Eichler (Deerfield), Penina Barr (Glenwood), Anna Ayes, (Hartshorn), Rachel Greenberg (South Mountain) and Claire Bonahoom (Wyoming).

“The Committee thanks ShopRite in Millburn for their assistance with the purchase of gift cards as well as allowing school families to assign their Price Plus free turkeys to the recipients; Captain Christopher Beady for coordinating the delivery effort along with volunteers from the Fire Department; school district custodial staff for picking up the boxes from the school and delivering the candy; St. Stephen’s Church for coordinating the confidential list of township families in need, and lastly all of the students and families who donated food and money and helped make the holidays a little brighter for so many of our township families,” Nancy Dries of Millburn Public Schools said.

Millburn High School Food Drive

The Millburn High School Key Club’s food drive will continue through Tuesday, Nov. 25. The Key Club is collecting nonperishable items, stored as canned or boxed goods, and monetary donations for the Community Food Bank of NJ. The Key Club won an award from the Food Bank in March for collecting the most food for them for two consecutive years. Your donation could help the Key Club win the award for three years in a row.

Pictured: Superintendent of Schools Dr. James Crisfield, with PTO Conference Outreach Committee volunteers, Robin Eichler, Tracie Wilk, Rachel Greenberg, Alexis Benbassat, Ann Marie Petrocelli (Committee Co-Chair), Jennifer Barry (Committee Co-Chair) Claire Fitzsimmons, Claire Bonahoom, and Neera Thapa. Also pictured are Fire Department volunteers: Adam Brenner, Joe Infantini, Donald Aurnhammer.