Alison Rollman

Staff Writer

During the week before Thanksgiving, Milken’s Chesed Minyan held its annual Turkey Drive in an effort to prevent less fortunate families from going hungry this Thanksgiving.

“We are so blessed here at Milken and it is really important to give back to those who are not as lucky as we are. Thanksgiving should be all about reflecting on what we have and thinking a lot about what we can give,” Ethan Kraft ’12, head of the Chesed Minyan, said.

Turkeys, monetary donations, and canned foods were collected during morning carpool and distributed to Jewish Family Service’s SOVA food pantry. In total, Milken collected over 1400 pounds of food and $1,000 in donations, which aided SOVA in giving out 1600 bags of holiday food to disadvantaged families and individuals.

“The SOVA pantry takes our donations and directly gives them to people in need. We know that our efforts are greatly appreciated,” Kraft said.

Tickets were received in exchange for donations – each dollar or can of food for one ticket and a turkey for four tickets. The tickets earned contributed to each advisory’s collection. Raising 118 tickets each, the advisories of Ms. Gail Srollof, Director of Athletics, and Mr. Oliver Savage, English Teacher, tied the contest, therefore winning a cupcake party courtesy of Milken’s own Blissful Baker, Adrienne Mashian ’11. Mashian regularly delivers her homemade baked goods to People Assisting the Homeless (PATH), and has kindly stepped up to support Milken in this drive.

All of the members of the Chesed Minyan and the Milken community at large are very proud of the abundance of enthusiastic participants this year.

“We had a lot of students step up and collect turkeys, dress up as turkeys, and encourage their friends to help,” said Celia Megdal ’11, member of the Chesed Minyan. “I hope that our school learns that a great amount of good can be done if everyone steps up to the challenge.”