Turkey Train Rolls Into its 19th Year of Giving

The MICDS community launched its 19th year of serving St. Louis through the annual Turkey Train. For the last two weeks, students and families in all divisions contributed bushels of canned goods and non-perishable food items for the St. Louis Area Foodbank. On the final day of collections, Upper Schoolers brought frozen turkeys to donate and engaged in a spirited activity of passing a line of turkeys from one end of campus to another, all to be loaded into a Foodbank truck to feed those in need.

We were happy to continue serving the Foodbank’s mission to support over 500 hunger-relief programs and local agencies, including soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and residential programs this year. The Foodbank responds to hunger in communities across 26 counties in Missouri and Illinois by distributing food to more than 392,000 people yearly. Our students, parents, faculty, and staff stepped up in a big way and contributed 4,410 pounds of turkey, 3,204 pounds of non-perishable food items, and $5,299 during the virtual food drive. The combined food and monetary donations will provide 27,211 meals for our St. Louis community.

Erin Hamill, Director of Global Learning & Upper School Community Service, said, “This year’s Turkey Train was another resounding success. Upper School students braved the wind and cold temperatures and had fun passing the turkeys within their advisories, and it was wonderful to see all three divisions together again in our all-school Turkey Train assembly after all these years. We are so grateful to all of our generous families for their food donations, despite rising food costs and a turkey shortage, and for the online donations directly to the Foodbank.”

All divisions joined the fun during the donation drive. The Lower School created a large paper turkey with a feather representing every ten items donated. Altogether, 124 feathers decorated the turkey, which means our Beasley friends collected over 1,240 items! Students also drew and decorated “turkeys in disguise” as ballerinas, dragons, football players, and more.

On the final day of collections, Lower and Middle School students helped wheel several containers of non-perishable items to the MAC to be loaded into the truck headed to the Foodbank.

The Upper School frozen turkey donations made their way down the line of 600 Upper Schoolers, and then students, faculty, and staff in all divisions gathered in the MAC for an assembly. Just how long is the train, you ask? Check out a turkey’s point of view on the Turkey Cam in the video below!

While the MICDS Band played uplifting music, the big screen projected notes of gratitude from the School community collected by our Upper School Community Service Committee Co-Heads, Nikitha Ada ’23 and Sanchi Vishwakarma ’23. Head of School Jay Rainey began the assembly and introduced Ada and Vishwakarma, who shared the importance of the Turkey Train and serving the St. Louis community. They turned the podium over to a Foodbank representative who expressed thanks and appreciation for the outpouring of support. The assembly closed with the MICDS Chamber Choir singing the MICDS Alma Mater and accompanied by the MICDS Orchestra. The Turkey Train festivities concluded with delicious hot cocoa from the Parents Association.

Thank you to all MICDS Rams who supported those in need during this Thanksgiving season!

To learn what our students, faculty, and staff are grateful for, check out the video below, and enjoy this brief recap of Turkey Train in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.