King Cares Brings Holiday Warmth Through Thanksgiving Drives
King Cares’ Thanksgiving service initiatives brought warmth and cheer to the start of the holiday season as students, families, faculty, and staff joined together to support the Person to Person (P2P) Food Drive and the Building One Community (B1C) Thanksgiving Basket Drive. The annual initiatives are school-wide collaborations, with each division having a role in creating, collecting, organizing, and distributing items ahead of the holiday.
This year, King donated approximately 3,700 pounds of food through the P2P Food Drive for families in need across lower Fairfield County.
“P2P is a not-for-profit organization and relies heavily on volunteers to be able to provide our services,” said P2P Senior Site Director and Stamford Site Manager Greg Dobbs, sharing his appreciation for the continued partnership. “In addition to donating food, King provided the manpower to unload and stack it in our warehouse. This represents over 30 hours of work that we simply are not equipped to handle on our own.”
Students found personal fulfillment through participation in organizing food by category with lower and middle school students at King. Middle school students also assisted upper school students in loading the sorted food into trucks for delivery.
“The experience this year was a ton of fun,” said Hockey Captain Gideon Lechner ’27, who worked with his teammates at P2P’s Stamford warehouse to unload, weigh, and stack the donated food on pallets. “I’ve seen firsthand the impact service work makes on less fortunate kids and families whom we do this. Knowing that a simple food drive like this is making a huge impact is truly a great feeling; it’s not every day that you get a chance to make a major impact in someone’s life.”
The Thanksgiving Basket Drive, supporting B1C, provided 40 complete Thanksgiving meal kits to immigrant families in Stamford. Each kit included shelf-stable food, festive handmade decorations, and a ShopRite gift card for a turkey.
The baskets were delivered and distributed at B1C’s flagship location in Stamford on Saturday, November 22. During the event, students shared festive temporary tattoos with children while families selected a basket.
“I am bilingual, so being able to foster better communication between Spanish-speaking immigrants and American people has always been very rewarding for me,” said Justina Marque ’27. “I got to meet so many amazing families and connect with them through temporary tattoos and lighthearted conversations about Thanksgiving.”
“We are truly grateful for King School’s ongoing support and its commitment to our mission,” said B1C Volunteer Manager Jennifer Sierra following the event. “Their dedication to serving the community — our community — has made a meaningful impact on countless families, not just during the holidays but throughout the entire year.”