A Thanksgiving Wish
To Palmer Families
Palmer High School Gives in a Big Way
Thanksgiving day is my favorite day of the year. It's a time to reflect on the things we are most grateful for and we get some quality time with family and friends. Preparing food all day with football in the background while getting ready for the biggest feast of the year; in my book, it doesn't get any better.
Between our staff, students, and their families we collected enough meals to fill up three pick-up trucks. I've delivered these meals for many years and we haven't had a better haul to AFS. In the end, we delivered over 60 full meals with all the fix-ins. I am very grateful to all that contributed to this worthwhile cause.
I would like to recognize Palmer Elk's who added to the cause with a generous four hundred dollar donation. Our student government agreed to an additional hundred and fifty dollars to be added to the cause. Together the two donations allowed our National Honor Society (NHS) sponsors to purchase 30 turkeys to go to families in need. Our NHS sponsors and students did a great job organizing the drive and the results were awesome!
Its days like this that make me very proud to be the principal at this school. Every day we see students caring for one another, but on Thanksgiving, we see the Palmer High community express their care and compassion for the greater community of Palmer. It's truly heartwarming.
Truckloads of Thanksgiving Diners
How We Build Trust
Meals Being Staged and Sorted By Students
The Sandwich Project.
The Sandwich Project was started last year by the Emmy Family at Wasilla High School. The goal of the project is to provide food for teens who are homeless or in transition and are unsure of where their meals will come from over the weekend. When I heard that WHS had 24 kids in need, I wondered if we had kids at Palmer High that were in need as well.
I approached our nurse, Mrs. Pell, about starting the project at PHS and asked
Mrs. King if she would be willing to sponsor me. Since then, Mrs. Pell contacts me at the beginning of the week to let me know how many kids are in need. I put together non-perishable food such as fruit, Ramen noodles, chips, fruit leather, a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, etc. into plain brown bags and deliver them to the nurse and she distributes the bags. On long weekends (such as in-service's) the bags contain an extra supply of food. We started with 7 kids in need and were recently up to 15.
The Emmy’s offered seed money for me to get started and I have been fundraising through word of mouth since then. I am hoping to start a group in January to help with preparing the bags and fundraising. My hope is to have the Sandwich Project fully established by the time I graduate so that it will continue. If you would like to help out or make donations, please contact Mrs. Pell or Mrs. King.
This submission was written by Zoe Nelles. A junior at Palmer High school who started this great program at PHS. Contact Palmer High School if you are interested in donating to this cause.