By Caroline C. ’21
In Upper School meeting on Monday, Food Bank and Boston Outreach announced their upcoming fundraiser to support the Boston Food Bank. Food Bank and Boston Outreach are both clubs whose mission is centered around giving the Winsor Students the opportunity to serve the Boston Area. This fall, the clubs have teamed up to lead a fundraiser to encourage Winsor students, faculty, alumni, and families to make donations to the Boston Food Bank.
Boston Outreach and Food Bank were inspired to create this fundraiser in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on so many people in the Boston area. Less importantly, it has also greatly limited these clubs because in-person volunteering is such an important aspect of their missions. Delaney H. ’22, one of the heads of Boston Outreach, said “as a result of the pandemic, the number of food-insecure individuals in the greater boston area has increased to 1 in 8 people. We wanted to organize this fundraiser to give back as much as possible especially because we aren’t able to volunteer in person at this time.” Alex G. ’21, one of the heads of Food Bank, explained how the inability for in-person at the Boston Food Bank inspired the two clubs to think outside the box to support the Boston community. Alex said, “I remembered that there used to be a Thanksgiving food drive, and when we found out that our event would have to be virtual we drew inspiration from past food drives.”
The idea for the fundraiser originated when Boston Outreach came up with the idea and reached out to Food Bank asking them to collaborate. Delaney and Claire A. ‘22, the other Boston Outreach head, are also both members of the Food Bank and knew that they would not be able to volunteer in person. Delaney explained that the two clubs will work well together because they have a bunch of common members, in addition to the heads, and have similar goals and club missions. Emma C. ’21, another head of Food Bank, notes that the two clubs are collaborating to make this event even more widespread throughout the Winsor community.
The fundraiser will be organized through the Boston Food Bank website so that members of the Winsor community can make direct donations. Alex explains that “through the Boston Food Bank website we can create a group including the entire Winsor network, so we can raise money as a community.” The money that is raised will go directly to the Greater Boston Food Bank so they can employ workers and purchase goods to continue to benefit the Boston community. Emma adds that “the fundraiser is under the Greater Boston Food Bank’s campaign “Hunger Free Holidays” which aims to address the raging food insecurity in the Boston area during the holiday season.”
Before any of the actual planning of the fundraiser the clubs had to get permission from Collect to host a fundraiser, given that there can only be four a year due to Winsor policy. Alex as a member of Collect explained that they receive proposals for fundraisers and as an administration vote on whether or not they should be passed. However, despite being the Vice President of Collect, Alex was not permitted to vote on this issue. Alex had to leave the room during the vote and, further, was not allowed to be a member in the discussion leading up to the vote because of her involvement in the fundraiser. Nonetheless, Collect decided to pass this fundraiser due to its importance during this pandemic. Alex said “we do not talk about food insecurity a lot at Winsor and because we are a school we have talked so much about how education has been affected because of COVID. However, food is a fundamental necessity of life.”
Alex and Delaney both highlighted the importance of food during this pandemic, especially because malnutrition can add to the effects of the virus and make it much more threatening. Boston Outreach and Food Bank want to support the foundation of the Boston community and food is something that is so instrumental in every life. Emma says “now more than ever, we have to really consider the steps that we are responsible for taking to help our community at large.” Winsor Students can donate to the fundraiser through the link included below!
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