By Christina Leslie | Staff Writer

Thanks to a successful collaboration between a Medford public school and the St. Mary of the Lakes conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, thousands of area residents will go to bed less hungry.

This marks the 13th consecutive year that Cranberry Pines students and families have collected food benefiting local families through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, explained Stephen Majewski, a member of the ministry based in St. Mary of the Lakes Parish.

“Students lead the food drive each year by distributing flyers and giving speeches to each class to kick-off the effort,” he said. “They make daily collections and record the number of food items collected. Bags of food line the halls of the school so the students can see the scope of the donations.”

This year, the students and their families had amassed a collection of 11,210 items of nonperishable food during the food drive between May 9 and 25. This boosted the total donation tally to more than 60,000 items since the program’s inception in 2004.

The following day, a box truck loaded with food drove the short distance to the SVDP offices on Jones Road in Medford, where the fourth grade classes from Cranberry Pines formed an assembly line, allowing every student to literally lend a hand for every food item delivered.

The Medford conference serves the towns of Medford, Medford Lakes, Moorestown, Pemberton Twp. and Browns Mills. Its thrift store, which sells gently-used or donated articles, is open 31 hours per week, while its ministry volunteers are available to meet with the needy 12 hours each week.

Majewski noted that, for the seven month period of Oct. 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016, the St. Mary of the Lakes SVDP Conference had served more than 3,500 children and adults with spiritual assistance and food, clothing, and financial help for rent and mortgage, auto insurance, utilities, and medical expenses valued at more than $560,000.

“This includes 110 home visitations and 380 food deliveries,” Majewski said. “For Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, more than 500 families received dinner, gifts, and essential items.”

Students from the Medford school expressed pride in their efforts to care for those less fortunate.

“Every single items matters to help hungry families. I think it’s wonderful how the whole school chips in,” said Lily Wolding.

“It’s awesome that we are able to help so many people who would otherwise go to bed hungry,” Ainsley Gamble observed.

Mackenzie Hyland added, “Our Cranberry Pines food drive is an amazing thing because it helps needy families and makes us feel really good inside. It takes the whole school’s effort.”