Oakdale Elementary Helps Families in Need

This is Principal Holli Armstrong's eighth year at the Oakdale Elementary School in Dedham.

This is also the eighth year that Ms. Armstrong has led her students on a successful Thanksgiving Food Drive. 

Each year, with the help of school nurse, Sue Healy, local families in need are lined up before Thanksgiving.

During the month of November, with her Fifth Grade student council by her side, meetings are held, flyers are made and sent home, and food is collected in each classroom.

As the holiday approaches, all of the donated items are brought together, and each year, local supermarkets Roche Bros. and Shaw's, have generously donated Thanksgiving turkeys and gift cards. 

We stopped by the school recently after lunch break, to find the twelve student council members sorting out hundreds upon hundreds of non- perishable food items.

From the looks of things, the families that had signed up for help, will receive all they need for a complete Thanksgiving meal. And thanks to the 300 plus students at the Elementary School, Principal Armstrong's continued community involvement, and the countless hours and tireless effort  of the boy and girls on the student council – there were a dozen bags of “extra food”  to be sent along to the Dedham Food Pantry! 

This is just another fine example of “neighbors helping neighbors…” Congratulations to all those involved.