Home » Toll Gate Hosts Annual TASK Thanksgiving Event

Toll Gate Hosts Annual TASK Thanksgiving Event

by MercerMe Staff

For more than 30 years, the Toll Gate community provided nearly 700 complete Thanksgiving dinners to Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK).

This year, on November 16, fifth grade Toll Gate students loaded a truck with non-perishables for delivery to TASK and assembled 275 pie boxes. On November 19 and 20, students and helpers from throughout the school worked together to bake pies. On the evening of November 20, Toll Gate parents and helpers donned aprons and wielded knives for the annual carve-a-thon in the school’s cafeteria. And, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, third grade students personally traveled to TASK to decorate for the holiday celebration and helped with the delivery of turkeys and pies.

The “task” of preparing more than 700 Thanksgiving dinners has been a joint effort between Toll Gate Grammar and the greater community for the past 30 years. Each year, Toll Gate students collect canned and boxed food, make 250 of their signature sweet potato pies, while turkeys are donated by local businesses and families, roasted and carved by volunteers. Local nursery schools make cranberry relish, Cub Scouts decorate lunch bags, Girls Scouts make cornbread, Timberlane Middle School packs lunches and the community at-large generously donates time and money to a task that resonates with what this time of year is all about  – “Giving, Caring, Sharing.”  By participating in this project, the children learn that there is always an opportunity to share and lend a helping hand.

Photographed are Toll Gate Grammar students participating in the annual pie-baking for the TASK. The students featured are Penny Czvornyek (L) and Parker Schaub (R). Adults include Pennington Mayor Anthony Persichelli, HVRSD Superintendent Dr. Tom Smith, and TG Interim Principal Jane-Ellen Lennon.

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