This year, Evansville Day School’s participation in the Tri-State Food Bank food drive took on a new, historical meaning. Where there has been a competition among grade levels in the past, now the entire school community competed as Houses to collect items for the food bank. The food drive was met with unprecedented success, due in no small part to the competitive, generous spirits of our parent community.

The food drive took place over the three weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Each week, one of the Houses was eliminated from the competition but could still donate items to the food drive or even a friend’s House by donating. Igleheart was eliminated in the first week, followed by Boettcher in the second. 

The competition rose to new heights in the final week when Baumgart and Heekin went head to head. Going into the week, Heekin had nearly a 700 item deficit to overcome, as Baumgart had already donated 3,989 items to their 3,305. Baumgart did an amazing job that week, raising their total contribution to 5,493 items. But Heekin House rallied, more than doubling their contributions from the first two weeks, bringing their total to 7,294 items and earning them first place.  

“In the four years I have coordinated the annual Tri-State food drive at EDS,” says Upper School Science teacher Ashely Swinford, “we have never had a response quite like this. The community outpouring has everything to do with how invested everyone is in their Houses. There were mountains of food in our Atrium. It was a sight to behold.”

The real winner in all of this was the Tri-State Food Bank. All in all, our school community of around 300 students managed to bring in an astounding 17,598 items for donation! (For reference, 2018’s total was the highest to date with 3,700 items donated.) We are so grateful to everyone who contributed, allowing us to give this gift to the food bank during a very busy time of year for them.