Students rushed to and fro in Ecumenical Hunger’s parking lot carrying thousands of red, yellow, and white bags for Distribution Day, or D-Day, this Saturday, Dec. 7th. After collecting 250,901 pounds of cans and non-perishables throughout November and December, students gathered in East Palo Alto to distribute the packaged goods to over 300 surrounding families.
Months of careful organization by Leadership made this day possible. “It’s one of the greatest events in the Leadership program, and it’s just a really great opportunity to see where all of our hours spent canning, boxing, and sorting has gone,” senior advisor and Leadership student Addy McCombs said.
Leadership students and teachers arrived at Ecumenical Hunger at 6:15 a.m. to set up assembly lines and fill colored tote bags with food. Bags included items such as bread, milk, pasta, and fresh fruits, offering families a wide selection of food items.
“D-Day is one of my favorite days of the year. It’s so fun to see students at a different time while also being able to help the community. Whether it be hauling or packing bags, it always feels like I’m doing something different to help out,” Algebra teacher Laurel Simons said.
While more students and community members started showing up, people started filling the five rows of bags for easy access. The volunteers worked as a unit, assembling the food and preparing for the long line of families that were already beginning to gather.
Distribution officially began at 8 a.m.: students and teachers wheeled carts piled high with boxes of canned food and bags of packaged food to waiting cars. Groups worked separately to pack goods into bags, reload carts with food and toiletries, or deliver goods. “It’s a lot of fun to help out your community and see the happy faces of people when they get the food they need,” sophomore Calvin Blanford said.
Beyond M-A, people from the surrounding community also supported the cause. “I do a lot of service through scouts, and this is just another opportunity for me to help out the community while also having time to hang out with my friends,” Woodside sophomore Lincoln Campbell said. Both Menlo Park and Redwood City mayors Cecilia Taylor and Jeff Gee also showed up to help distribute food to families.
At 8:45 a.m., the assembly lines finished sorting all the food ready to be delivered. “My favorite part of today was our assembly lines. They were really organized this year, much more so than the past few years, meaning we could get the food out to the families faster,” senior D-Day Committee co-lead Abbie MacLeod said.
By 11 a.m., all the food was completely distributed.
As for this year’s class competition, seniors collected the most cans with 112,139 pounds of food, followed by the juniors with 63,057 pounds of food. The M-A Chess Community topped the clubs’ leaderboard again this year with a total of 17,253 pounds raised. For sports, the dance team came in first, raising 18,045 pounds.
“Every year, I wish we could have more food and more options to give out,” junior and D-Day committee co-lead Auden Jones said, reflecting on this year’s D-Day. “Knowing that the food we spent the past month raising will only last these families two to three weeks puts into perspective how much more we could be doing. It’s still nice that we’re able to come together as a school and give back this way.”
