Stratford School Students Give Back Through Food, Toy Drives

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The Stratford School may be relatively small with only a student body of 88, but when it comes to giving back to the community, the preschoolers through second graders at the 14th Avenue school know how to come through in a huge way.

In November and December, the school that builds a portion of its curriculum around character development focuses on the tenant of caring. Last month, students contributed 758 pounds of food, which was in turn donated to the San Francisco Marin Food Bank, which works with the school each year with its annual food drive.

On Friday, the school wrapped up its annual toy drive during which students collected and donated four large bins of toys to the San Francisco Fire Department. Toys will be distributed to children not only at the holidays, but will also be given to kids who may have endured loss through a house fire or other tragedies.

For Sherrie Paregian, the head of school at the San Francisco-based private school, the ability to put a face on an educational component that is stressed each day with student is special. That is especially true in 2020, a year in which so many local families have struggled because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“We talk about how grateful and blessed we are that we have a good school to go to, that we have food and that we have a food to go to every night,” Paregian told Patch on Friday. “There are several families and several children that don’t have that privilege and helping (students) to understand that not everybody has that same lifestyle that they do helps them to have empathy and show empathy toward others.

“That made it very easy to make them want to give and want to help them.”

During last month’s food drive, students passed by large bins in which food items could be placed as they entered the school each morning. The total amount of food donated by the school equaled out to almost nine pounds of food per student after the school set an initial goal of collecting 300 pounds of food.

On a daily basis, Paregian and other Stratford school staff members watched as students ran up the steps and through a set of double doors and added to the collection of food that was donated to the local food bank. The same has gone for this month’s toy drive as each day, students walked into school with items to donate as part of an effort that teaches the importance of connecting to one’s community, Paregian said.

What started with one bin for toys ended up more than filling four large containers as students continued to add more before the collection was turned over to the city’s fire department on Friday.

“I was really surprised, but it was really heartwarming to see the generosity of our school community,” Paregian said. “Everybody came together and just wanted to give back.

“I think (students are) definitely making the connection (with the effort to give back) because we’re helping them to make that connection. We say, ‘Here’s an example of helping someone out and being a caring person' and I believe every single student understands that message because we enforce it.”

The lessons of connecting with community is taught at every level at the school, but for Peregian, the joy of watching preschoolers take pride in giving back is especially gratifying, including on Friday, when students were part of the delivery process of taking toys out to the San Francisco fire truck that parked outside the school to collect those toys collected in this month’s effort.

As the children pass off the toys, firefighters greet them and thank them for their efforts in giving back, which only reinforces the lessons they are being taught each day as part of the character development teachings they receive on a regular basis.

“I think (being recognized) makes the children feel really good about what they’ve done,” she said, adding, “Giving them those lessons in character development is one of the most important things that we can teach children and giving them that foundation of respect and responsibility and citizenship is really a foundation to the type of people they’re going to become.”

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 50 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.