Students and staff throughout District 58 participated in a variety of special activities in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Hillcrest’s student council officers and representatives, along with fifth-grade teachers Lindsay Dota and Jennifer Matkovich, organized a food drive, which brought in more than 1,000 non- perishable items for the FISH pantry in Downers Grove. The drive ran from November 8 through November 18, and on November 21 after school, the student council officers helped load an entire van with boxes of food. The classes who collected the most individual food items – Leslie Walker’s first-grade class and Brittany Cerny’s fourth-grade class – won a popcorn party that took place Nov. 22.

Nearly 200 O’Neill Middle School students, along with a number of staff, participated in the Developmental Learning Program’s third annual Turkey Trot on Nov. 22. The plan was to “trot” down to Barth Pond, do two laps and run back to O’Neill, but because of inclement weather they “trotted” around the school instead. The trot was created to celebrate a healthy Thanksgiving, said DLP teacher and Turkey Trot organizer Sean Rhoads.

Belle Aire School sponsored a Penny Harvest again this year. Each day from November 14-18, student council members brought the harvest wagon to each classroom, and students contributed their spare change. The drive netted $568.27, half of which will go to the FISH pantry in Downers Grove and half of which will go to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Downers Grove, which is hosting a Thanksgiving lunch on November 24.

“The younger students especially love to throw their pennies in the harvest wagon,” said LRC Director Joan Mommsen.

At Henry Puffer School, Principal Todd McDaniel took whipped cream pies to the face November 22 for a good cause. McDaniel donned a poncho to protect his clothes, pulled up a chair in the gymnasium, and in front of hundreds of cheering students, was buffeted with whipped cream as the culmination to the school’s “Pie the Turkey” fundraiser. Students donated food items for Thanksgiving boxes, resulting in about a dozen full meals for families in need. They also donated change to raise money for Jewel gift cards, which are included along with the meals to allow the family to purchase a turkey. The class that raised the most money got to draw the names of students to throw a pie at McDaniel. This year’s winning class was Carrie Edwards’ second grade, and Kelly Williams’ fourth grade was such a close second that they got to have representatives throw pies, as well.

Whittier School hosted Dress the Turkey Night on November 17. It kicked off with a student presentation, then families got to “dress” a paper turkey any way they wanted—resulting in everything from a Lady Gaga turkey to the Grinch Who Stole Christmas turkey.

Turkeys were the center of attention in Amy Flannery’s first-grade class at Hillcrest, as well. The students read the story “Run, Turkey, Run,” and decided that they should help Turkey Tom make it safely past Thanksgiving by disguising him through the holiday he fears the most. Families worked together to create disguises such as Rapunzel, Spiderman, rock star, baseball player, Santa, librarian, and more!