Along with annual events such as EA/Haverford/AIS weekend, Spirit Week, and Scrooge Chapel, the Can Drive stands out as one of EA’s most rewarding community traditions. It’s a time when the entire community gets together, from PreK through 12th to reach out and help other communities. It’s not marked by flashy celebrations or humorous performances, but rather, by a profound sense of generosity and giving by a community that acts not because of personal gain but by a feeling of giving and empathy. It’s truly the most unique event on EA’s calendar and deserves a closer look.
Just a couple of years ago, the Can Drive was a starkly different event, with more of an emphasis on quantity rather than quality. “Many many years ago it was very focused on cans because it’s the Can Drive,” explains Rebecca Brinks, EA’s Community Service Coordinator. “People would be inclined to bring in whatever was the least expensive. If you could get 50 cans of corn and soup for however much money [you would do it]. It was a lot of stuff and the cans are ok but protein products and more expensive things that you can’t buy with SNAP benefits are more valued and needed by the community.” Head Chaplain, Father Timothy Gavin, agrees, “A lot of what [our partners] were receiving was cans of corn and string beans which are fine but don’t provide the protein that people need.” Elizabeth Hershey, Accounting Warden of the Vestry and member of the Community Service Board adds, “We would get hundreds and thousands of cans of beans and corn.”
While the sheer number of items donated was helpful it wasn’t as impactful as it could be, prompting Episcopal to change the way the drive operates. “Nine years ago, when I became Head Chaplain, we just went out and asked our partners, what is it you need?” states Gavin. EA was ready to alter how the drive operates in order to better serve the community. “They said that they were very grateful for what they were receiving but they asked us, could you bring in more protein and cleaning products? They’d rather have three cans of tuna fish that cost ten dollars total rather than ten cans of corn for ten,” Gavin continues.
Along with reorienting the drive away from solely cans, EA also started pairing each grade up with a specific partner. “I love that we’ve paired different classes with specific community partners,” Brinks says. “It allows our students to learn more about a specific organization and focuses our students’ attention on communicating with that particular organization,” she adds.
This communication-focused approach is aided by the deliberate selections of community partners for grade’s that already volunteer for them for service days. The 6th grade, for instance, donated to the Memorial Church of God in Christ because middle school teacher Lawrence Henderson’s father is a key figure there. “Mr. Henderson has taken his homerooms to volunteer there for the last couple of years,” says Brinks.
This year the freshmen donated pasta and soup to ACLAMO, a particular favorite. “ACLAMO is one that resonates with me because I participate in tutoring ACLAMO students during the winter,” Hershey responds. “It’s really cool to know the students that are receiving our donations and it adds a personal factor,” she continues.
For Brinks, ACLAMO also stands out. “My heart is always with ACLAMO because we spend so much time there,” Brinks agrees. “I volunteer there and you know the kids and you get a sense of the community and how important it is to all the community members.” Donations to ACLAMO will go to a food pantry that operates once a week.
Photo courtesy of EA Communications
The sophomores donated protein products to St. Barnabas. “They have a food pantry Monday through Thursday where people from the community can come and shop for two or three bags of whatever the items are. They also have fresh produce and sometimes meat and bread and whatever the contributions are,” explains Brinks about St. Barnabas.
The St. James Welcome Table, where the juniors gave toiletries to, operates as a market every Saturday in which people can come and shop. “They have a market called the St James Welcome Table and people just come and shop free of charge,” explains Gavin. “I’ve been [there] a number of times [and] they have a produce section, cereal section, pasta section and protein section. They also have cleaning products and toiletries and our giving, especially in the Upper School, provides a lot for that. It could provide one or two or three Saturdays.”
Finally, the Seniors contributed cleaning products to the Chester County Food Bank. They run a market similar to the Welcome Table where “people just come by and pretty much shop.”
Photo courtesy of Hannah Todd ’28
While the shift away from free-for-all donations to a more deliberate approach has been a runaway success there have been some disadvantages. “It looks like we bring in less,” opines Gavin. “Seniors are asked to bring in cleaning products, but one bottle of detergent might cost sixteen dollars which might buy twenty cans. Those twenty cans look like we’re actually doing more when we’re actually spending about the same amount of money. The impact is much greater for the receivers, however. It’s quality versus quantity and we’re just leaning towards quality.” Hershey adds that the specific partner approach can also make it a little more difficult for the givers. “It makes it a bit more difficult for the people that are donating because you can’t just go into Costco and get a 12-pack of corn.”
Another result of the Can Drive’s newfound emphasis on quality was the end of direct incentives to give. “When we were doing the incentives, it became about the number and not the quality of products being brought in,” Gavin explains. “We also want to give the students one opportunity to give without receiving. Many things at a school are a transaction. You do your homework and get credit, you study hard to get an A and you do a sport in exchange for a letter. So you do something, and get something in return. This is a one opportunity to really lean into our core values, especially the core value of generosity. True generosity is giving without expecting anything in return. So this is one opportunity to sort of teach our students that giving in itself can be the reward. It’s a hard sell.”
Instead of incentivization, Episcopal encourages students to give. “We try to promote it through social media, old fashioned flyers that we post up in the student lounges, sending emails to parents and praying for our partners in chapel,” Gavin says. There have also been numerous chapel speeches throughout both the middle and upper school. “One of the things that the Vestry and Father Gavin does is Soup-er Sunday where you can drop things off at the chapel on a Sunday,” adds Brinks.
Overall, the can drive’s transition towards a more quality-focused approach has been a massive success. Students’ contributions are now more streamlined to better help EA’s community partners and it’s now easier than ever to understand where the contributions are going and how they’ll be used.