Schools Collect Donations

For WIN’s Thanksgiving Baskets

By Eliza Hallabeck

Several schools and preschools in town collected donations for Women Involved in Newtown’s (WIN) yearly Thanksgiving Baskets campaign this year, and last week the donations were collected and given to the group.

At Newtown Middle School assorted nonperishables started piling up on October 26, when its Student Council’s collection began.

Students at Fraser Woods Montessori School assembled its collection on one of the school’s buses to bring it to WIN’s collection location. WIN’s Mandy Monaco said Middle Gate Elementary School and Sandy Hook Elementary School also collected items for the group’s Thanksgiving Baskets program this year.

As part of building enthusiasm for the collection, Sandy Hook School also held its annual Turkey Trot on Thursday, November 15, which had students walk around a designated area on the school’s property while gobbling and “flapping their wings” like turkeys.

According to WIN, the Thanksgiving Baskets program is a townwide drive to provide local families food to last from Thanksgiving into the holiday season. Social Services compiles a list of families in need in the Newtown area, which is kept confidential, and WIN matches participating organizations with a family or donations are matched with a family’s need.

Ms Monaco said WIN is working to support more than 70 local families this year.