“No Child Goes Hungry in Peabody”

This season I have 23 kids on the St. John’s Prep Junior Varsity hockey  team. Plus 2 managers this season for a total of 26 Student athletes.

The 1st team event that we did was in December to benefit the “The Angel Fund”.  It is a program at the South Memorial elementary school in Peabody. This program was created at Christmas time to makes sure that the kids at the South School and some of the others in the district get some Christmas presents during the holidays.  The children they identify are those that Mom and Dad may be unemployed,  on tough times and some are even homeless. These kids most likely would not have the best of holidays!

Coordinator Amy Galley supplied me with a list of kids that were broken down by their ages and gender.  There were boys & girls ranging from Pre-school through 5th grade.

I wrote all of them down on small pieces of paper and the boys all drew out of a hat randolmy to see who they were getting. Once all of them had their assignments,  it came time. To do some shopping. After our first home game on a Saturday night, we went to the Target in Danvers as a team, with our jerseys on and did some shopping! The boys were instructed to spend between $20-$25 dollars on their kid. The boys had an incredible time shopping, and really understood the spirit of being able to make a younger kids Christmas special. I explained to them how lucky they are to have the opportunities that they have, but that there are kids less fortunate than them.  I also explained to them how they probably will never know or meet the kid they helped, nor will that kid know them, but that being able to help a stranger they will never know is one of the greatest forms of giving there is.

Its a great way to show there are more important things out there than just playing hockey and hanging with your friends.

I chose this program, as I not only live in the city of Peabody, but I have a daughter in the 2nd grade, and I see some of the kids daily who this may benefit.  I also am a Peabody Police Officer, so I have seen 1st hand how this has impacted the kids in our community.

We also held a canned food and diaper drive that we donated to the “In Transition house” that is a shelter for woman with children.

The big community service event we do every year is the “No child goes hungry in Peabody”.

This program provides meals for kids on the weekends who might not have it provided at home.  Those kids usually during the week get free or reduced lunch in school, so they are taken care of there, but not on the weekends.

Peabody School Committee member Jarrod Hochman created it a 5 years ago. Now on Wednesday & Thursday nights, different groups of volunteers pack bags of food with enough healthy food to provide 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 3 dinners, as well as snacks. This will help get the kids through Friday night, and all day Saturday and Sunday. They also have adult volunteers that do all of the deliveries directly to those students homes that are in need.

I split the team into 2 groups, so we help out 2 weeks in a row. Each week 13 players along with myself and my assistant get the bags ready, we form a conveyor belt like formation  then start filling the bags and passing them down the line.  Another group of the boys then take the bags and sort them out into delivery groups and put them in boxes. The boys then take the boxes off the loading dock and and put them in the cars of the adult volunteers.

The Boys Always have a great time doing it, and really feel great about knowing they are helping out kids in need. I have had players in the past who have gone back to volunteer on their own after the season. This year is no different, I know 2 of this years players have asked to go back on a regular basis during the spring.