WVHS freshman organizes apple pick n' pack day to help food pantries
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Warwick Valley High School freshman Samuel Grizzanti and his friends were thankful to be giving back to the community this Thanksgiving season!
Sam, along with his mom, had the idea to organize a day of apple picking and packing at their family's farm, Warwick Valley Orchard. With so many great apples still on the trees, they thought that it would be great to get all of that fresh produce to local food pantries so that it could be distributed in time for the holiday.
"My inspiration came from seeing how, in apple orchards, apples often go to waste," Sam said about the seed for his idea. "I wanted to give back to those in need within my community."
They figured that Sam could put the word out for volunteers at the high school, and they even enlisted the help of the fine folks at Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Sam even went so far as to work with Warwick Valley High School Director of Guidance Mary Fox, to get permission for student volunteers to earn community service hours for helping out! With the high school's guidance department on board, he created a flyer that was shared around school.
The plan: Get together at the orchard on Saturday, November 15 and get picking!
"Over 20 volunteers showed up on Saturday," Sam said. "Everyone had a great time and we were excited to help hundreds of families across Orange County."
The group worked for three hours, picking as many of the remaining apples as they could, then boxing and bagging them so they would be ready for pick-up.
"We picked over 80 bushels of apples; that's 3,500 pounds!" Sam added.
"What Sam did was very cool," said a proud WVHS Principal Georgianna Diopoulos. "Not only that, it also exemplified our district's Portrait of a Graduate put into action. This showed great problem-solving, leadership and collaboration, and, above all, Sam and his team of volunteers really showed their civic-mindedness in coming together to help others."
"And he had so many students show up... on a Saturday!" Ms. Diopooulos emphasized. "They came up with such a tremendous donation, and it's going to be a great help to local food pantries."
Cornell Cooperative Extension agreed to swing by the orchard this week, pick up the packed apples and distribute them to food pantries across Orange County in advance of Thanksgiving. Sam hopes to build upon this year's great success and expand the project in the future.
"I definitely want to do more dates," he said. "And possibly even expand it to work with different schools!"