Hamden Hall Students Donate Warm Socks and Busloads of Food

From busloads of canned goods to warm pairs of socks, the Hamden Hall community is helping make a difference in the lives of others – from their bellies to their toes – heading into the holiday season.

The Lower School sock drive accumulated 462 pairs of socks to hand over to Christopher Martins for its annual Thanksgiving dinner for the area homeless and families in need. After eating a three course sit-down turkey dinner on Thanksgiving Day, patrons visiting the New Haven restaurant will be given home care packages containing canned food, toiletries, and clothing.  

Hamden Hall's participation in the program came at the behest of sixth-grade teacher Beth Hunter, who has been organizing sock collections for the school for years.

Sixth-grader Timothy Neumeister said he went for practicality over looks when selecting socks to donate.

“I brought in two pairs of socks,” he said. “I picked ones that were bigger and thicker so that whoever wears them will be warm.”

Orly Richter wowed her sixth-grade peers with the number of socks she donated – a whopping 26!

Sophia Barry said she appreciated the fact that Hamden Hall encourages its students to get involved and help the greater community.

“Since Hamden Hall is all about caring, support, and participation, it’s nice to participate in something that helps people who are less fortunate than us,” said the sixth-grader, whose class led the sock drive by decorating boxes that were placed throughout the school as collection bins.

With an original goal of 250 pairs, the Lower School sock drive was deemed wildly successful as it garnered almost double that number.   

“It is our hope that being involved in meaningful community service initiatives will further our school’s mission to teach our students to be socially responsible. Community service also promotes personal growth, self esteem, and helps foster empathy for others,” said Lower School Acting Director Lorri Carroll.

Hamden Hall’s annual Stuff-A-Bus initiative has been a staple at the school for more than a decade. Each year during the week prior to Thanksgiving, the Hamden Hall community stuffs a bus with canned goods and food items to be delivered to Christian Community Action. The donations are used in CCA’s annual Thanksgiving Food Basket Campaign.

According to Al May, director of development at Christian Community Action, Judie Zundell (who has been coordinating the Stuff-A-Bus initiative since its beginning in 2000) told him to expect the Hamden Hall bus Friday afternoon. On Saturday, Judie, her family members, and Hamden Hall students and parents will gather in Hamden Hall’s parking lot to coordinate food collections from other neighboring organizations as well, Judie noted.

“We are extremely grateful for the support that the Hamden Hall community has given to CCA and our annual Thanksgiving food basket campaign over the past several years,” said May. “We now provide turkeys and bags of holiday-related food to more than 2,000 families, seniors, and persons, so they can enjoy a home-cooked holiday meal with loved ones just like the rest of us.”

Last year, Hamden Hall contributed more than 3,400 items to CCA – which May noted as having contributed “significantly to the success of this effort.”

And also like last year, the food drive has a competitive component. The grade level with the highest number of donated food items wins a dress-down day. But for students, the annual Stuff-A-Bus event goes beyond any school-sanctioned reward.

“Stuff-A-Bus is a success because our community is invested in charitable causes. Students are also encouraged to drive the bus over with Mrs. Zundell to the food pantry, which is equally rewarding because we are able to recognize that not only Hamden Hall but many other people are also involved in care for the underprivileged,” said Interact tri-president Claire Kramer.

Claire is joined by fellow seniors Maria Kozdroy and Allie Izzo in presiding over Interact, a Rotary Club-sponsored service club for young people and Hamden Hall’s main branch of community service. Allie noted that food and clothing drives are frequent occurrences around campus.

“Last year we did a toiletries drive and brought all of our items to Columbus House (Overflow Shelter in New Haven),” she said. “This year we decided to try something new, so we are partnering with Aid For Orphans Relief and have adopted an orphanage in Africa and are planning many drives and fundraisers to support them.”

For seventh-grade class president Shaw Mettler, community service projects like Stuff-A-Bus foster a collective pride and spirit for the Hamden Hall community. 

“It is important for everyone to participate in Hamden Hall’s community service events because if all of us students are working together for a common goal, then there is a sense of unity and friendship spread throughout the group. At the same time we are giving back to our community, we are making our school community stronger. It is a win win,” said Shaw.