For 15 years Manchester Township High School's Helping Hands for Hunger has provided confidential holiday meals to school families in need to help support a happy and healthy Thanksgiving week. Today the annual Helping Hands for Hunger's 2023 initiative commenced with the packaging of 125 Thanksgiving meals! Students from every school in the district came together at Manchester Township High School this morning to prepare meal bags that will be distributed ahead of the holiday later this week.
Helping Hands for Hunger is a food drive initiative that strives to provide Thanksgiving meals confidentially to those Manchester families who need extra support during the holiday season. Driven by the Manchester Township High School students and staff, and run by MTHS Vice Principal Sarah Thiffault and MTHS' Brenda Scanziani, this is a community-wide initiative where all of Manchester comes together in support of the cause. Students and staff from across every Manchester Township Public School generously support Helping Hands for Hunger with non-perishable donations. For example, The Boyd family from Ridgeway Elementary collected 55 cans alone for the Helping Hands for Hunger drive this year!
The Manchester community also came together in a huge way in support of Helping Hands for Hunger. Through community-donated gift cards, Helping Hands for Hunger was able to purchase perishable food items such as fresh fruits, vegetables, turkeys, and eggs. The ingredients for brownies were even available for purchase which were baked by Manchester Township High School students! Thank you to those organizations such as the Manchester Township P.B.A., businesses such as 3Bs in Lakehurst, the River Pointe Adult Community in Manchester, and all of the gift cards and monetary donations. Every dollar helped someone right here in Manchester have a Thanksgiving meal this year.
At the end of today's packing event, Vice Principal Thiffault spoke to the students in gratitude encouraging them to, "Take a moment to look around your Thanksgiving table this year and as you appreciate what you have, remember how your kindness extended to 125 families in Manchester who now have a Thanksgiving dinner because of students like you and our community effort. Manchester is such a special place to live," Mrs. Thiffault continued. "Helping Hands for Hunger happens because of all of the hard work collectively by our school and town community. Thank you all!
