Students on all four Bolles campuses hosted food drives in the weeks prior to Thanksgiving – events that yielded nourishment and nonperishable necessities for families across Northeast Florida.

The Bolles Lower School Ponte Vedra Beach Campus community collected goods for the MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation. The tennis legend himself came to campus in mid-November to personally thank students and faculty for their food donations.

Drives on the Bolles Lower School Whitehurst, Middle School Bartram and Upper School San Jose campuses benefited Woodland Acres Elementary School, which has a food bank that distributes food to families in need in their community. Bolles has enjoyed a longstanding partnership with the school and Bolles students are very supportive of the initiative. The Whitehurst and San Jose collections yielded nearly 2,000 items of food this year, according to Assistant Head of Upper School Piper Moyer Shad ’91.

Bartram Dean Mindy Kelly said the middle school community collected nearly 70 bags of groceries and more than $1,000 in Publix gift cards for families in need this holiday season.

Student volunteers assisted Moyer Shad in the loading of groceries onto a truck, which also stopped at the Bartram Campus on November 19 for a pick-up. The collection was delivered to Woodland Acres Elementary School Friday afternoon.