Students from all three township middle schools – Bunker Hill, Orchard Valley and Chestnut Ridge – volunteered to pack baskets of food.
More than 100 students turned out to support the annual Gobble Up Hunger Drive sponsored by Interact programs at the school district’s three middle schools.
Students from Bunker Hill, Orchard Valley and Chestnut Ridge volunteered to unpack and sort food for an assembly line of items that included stuffing, gravy, corn, green beans and soup, as well as fresh produce like russet and sweet potatoes and pie. The items were then placed in Thanksgiving baskets for families in need, who also got turkeys.
The annual effort – held at Bunker Hill – is organized by Interact advisors at each middle school: Heather Finn and Maddy Kubik (Bunker Hill), Amy Leso (Orchard Valley) and Amanda Dacquisto (Chestnut Ridge). The students packed a total of 260 baskets, enough for 1,140 people.
Interact advisors gave special thanks to Tony Grelli and Velocity Ventures for their support. It was the fifth consecutive year Velocity has purchased and donated all of the food from ShopRite. Other sponsors and supporters included Mother’s Cupboard, Debbie Grelli and Duffield’s Farm, Thomas Zippler and Kingzippy LLC, Ashley DiMatteo and Burn Boot Camp of Washington Township, the Washington Township Education Association, Nicole Lanutti and the Craft Room, Washington Township Rotary, Jimmy DePiano and AJ Flooring of Kitchen & Bath, the South Jersey Food Bank, ShopRite of Washington Township-Bottino’s Family Market, Neal Kline, township police, Washington Township Youth Football, DJ Steve Cora providing music and community members.
The advisors also thanked school Superintendent Dr. Eric Hibbs, district administrator and former Bunker Hill principal Mike D’Ostilio, operations coordinator Jeff Walter, food service manager Jennifer Mullin, Tiffany Orihel, Mayor Anthony Dellapia, Councilman Peter Del Borello, board of education members, administrators, faculty, staff, food services and district operations.
The Interact clubs will now turn their attention to the annual Power of Giving event. Residents interested in donating to the project or sponsoring a student or family for the upcoming gift-giving holidays, are invited to email Maddy Kubik at mkubik@wtps.org.
