Practicing Gratitude
The following message was part of a Chapel Talk delivered last week by Binaca Hanson, Assistant Headmaster for Academic and Student Life, that celebrated the SJA community and the efforts to support our neighbors through our annual Walk for A Healthy Community, which included a food drive, baking fundraiser and a challenging hike to the top of Mt. Hunger by a Class of 2028 advisory group.
As we think about gratitude during the month of November, I think it’s a wonderful time to tell you about the results of the “Walk For A Healthy Community.” I want to thank you for your patience as we have waited for the final tallies and donations. It’s kind of wonderful that it has taken this long.
I am grateful that, for the last two years, Mrs. Kendall’s Human Services classes have provided our community a wonderful education about food donations that are most needed and nutritionally helpful; they took the time to help us understand what kinds of donations would have the most significant impact. Can by can and box by box, the groups that opted for food donations instead of cash donations began to fill the space on and around our mini-Colby Tower. By the time Mr. Roberts’ afternoon Electrical class loaded it to deliver it to NECKA, they had delivered 1004.2 pounds of food! The quantity AND quality of what we were able to give was incredible. Casey Winterson, NEKCA’s Director of Economic and Community Based Services, wrote me and said “I wanted to send a heartfelt thank you to the entire St. Johnsbury Academy community for the generous food donation made to NEKCA from your Walk for a Healthy Community initiative. We all at NEKCA are so thankful to have SJA as a partner in the effort to end food scarcity in the NEK.” Again, a huge thank you to Mr. Roberts’ class who made sure that all the donations were weighed and delivered with care to NEKCA.
Alongside our food donations, we had other advisory groups who decided to focus on monetary donations, which are also incredibly helpful for NEKCA. Like last year, the cash donations we raised came from the Variety Day, as well as also from traditional cash donations and also some creative fundraising. Among the creative fundraising ideas we saw this year: Mr. Brown and his advisees raffled off the chance to have their advisory bake and decorate a cake, with the theme of the cake being chosen by the raffle winner. Chef B and members of her advisory used their talent and time to make delicious treats and sold them at a home football game. Chef Hale and his dedicated group of ninth grade advisees hiked Mt. Hunger and, in support of their hike, raised $2110 in pledges for NEKCA. When I thought we had handed in the last dollars, we were at $4,854.46. I shared that number with a couple of faculty members – and between us, we donated a few more dollars. Last night, I was sitting at my desk and I shared with Mrs. Hegarty that we had hit the magical number of 5,000 dollars and she said “Oh, wait – another envelope came in!” There was an additional $120 in it. With those last donations, we raised $5120 in cash for NEKCA this year. That number is incredible. That will do so much good in our community.
Mrs. Kendall’s Human Services class wanted to offer a prize for the top advisories in each grade. The winners – who donated the most cans or cash by grade are:
9th: Hale Advisory
10th: Chef B’s Advisory
11th: Meranze Advisory
12th: Jeremy Roberts Advisory
When Donley Johnson spoke to us before the walk, he asked us to think about Mr. Jones’ take on the importance of community. Donley said “we all have things we need, and we all have things to offer. Being in community requires us to embrace both”. The give and take – the living, breathing nature of community is special – and it is especially special when we can show up – just as you all did. The work of caring for one another – whether that is here at SJA or in the larger St. Johnsbury community, is work – incredibly worthwhile work. When I wrote NEKCA to tell them about our final food and cash tally, Casey Winterson, NEKCA’s Director of Economic and Community Based Services, shared “The delivery of the 1000+ pounds of food came at a much-needed time and went directly back into the local community, helping support many families throughout St. Johnsbury and the local surrounding towns. This additional donation of the $5,000 (he doesn’t even know about the extra 120 dollars!) that was raised by the SJA leaves me speechless. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I cannot express enough how much we appreciate the support and collaboration from SJA. Our partnership across many areas, including food security, is a testament to how communities can grow, prosper and thrive together.”
As I wrap up today, I want to stress that the humble work of collecting cans and coins that amounted to just over a thousand pounds of food and over five thousand dollars – that didn’t happen because of a few people. That happened because so many of you rolled up your sleeves and got to work. That’s what a healthy community does…
My greatest hope is that the momentum we found in the cans and coins will keep going. I hope we are all regularly thinking about those things we, as individuals, both need and have to offer and that we can also continue to think outside of ourselves – to think about what others need and have to offer, too.
Our theme this year is ‘face the world and make it better’ and I am incredibly optimistic about how we will do that after just this one event. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for facing our community and making it better.
