For the past quarter century, boarding students at The Pennington School have donated upwards of 1,000 lbs. of clothing and school supplies each and every year to charitable organizations in our area. Though the specific organizations have changed over time, the mission to upcycle and find new purpose for these items, aiding local nonprofits in the process, has remained the same.

For many years, Pennington worked with HomeFront and then with Trenton Rescue Mission. Most recently, the School has liaised with the Eastern Service Workers Association (ESWA) of Trenton, an organization run solely by volunteers. ESWA assists families whose primary source of income is derived from service industries such as healthcare and hospitality. 

This most recent partnership is thanks to the efforts of two of Pennington’s own community members: Teacher of German and Hall Parent Peter Chase, and José Hernandez, a colleague with the School’s dining service, Flik.

Beginning in early May, each one of Pennington’s residential halls was equipped with two boxes: one for clothing and one for school supplies. Every few days, dorm sweeps were performed to collect the contents of the boxes. The items were then sorted, folded, bagged, and weighed, and several times each week Hernandez made a delivery run to ESWA with the donations.

In the end, this year’s donations totaled nearly 500 lbs. Later this month, Hernandez will again assist ESWA with running a clothing and supplies expo. “The donations are always much appreciated!,” said Chase, who looks forward to the messages and videos of gratitude that ESWA families send along to members of the Pennington community each year.