Lawrence Academy continues to Rise Against Hunger

By John Bishop

GROTON — While the Grant Rink usually rocks thanks to Lawrence Academy’s hockey teams, on Sunday, April 12, 2026, the concrete, iceless arena floor bopped to the sound of pump-up music fueling the 30 or so students gathered to make over 10,000 meals for distribution through Rise Against Hunger.

The organization’s mission is to help underserved people worldwide achieve food security and resilience through nutrition, education and economic empowerment — aligning directly with the academy’s goal of empowering students “to take action for the greater good.”

“We planned this since the beginning of the year,” said Maggie Donahue ’26 of the plan to continue the partnership with Rise Against Hunger, just before she and Cole Brennan ’27 sounded the gong on the first milestone. “We set the date and coordinated with the organization.”

Each time the gong rings to mark another 1,000 meals, the room builds toward its 10,152-meal goal.

Assistant Dean of Students Kimberly Poulin said the energy is what stands out most after 11 years leading the effort.

“Bringing students together and being focused on one task, to create meals for people who need them.

“The students’ energy is one memorable thing, and the other is inspiring student leaders - them being inspiring to others to make this event happen," said Poulin. “In the early years of RAH, student leaders rose to meet the challenge to bring this event to campus and to increase the number of meals each year. “Our current student leaders continue the tradition by planning ahead for the event, leading packaging teams and managing the event on site.

“Over the years, our students’ energy and enthusiasm to help others make this event fun and help to carry on the tradition of LA partnering with Rise Against Hunger.”

For those who help run the event, part of the appeal is seeing young people continue to collaborate to make a difference.

“This is your 11th event,” said David Barletta, who supervised the event’s setup, safety and efficiency and is now in his ninth year with Rise Against Hunger.

“You've been doing it since 2015," continued Barletta. "That’s 176,000 meals, with another 10,000 today.

“So after today, it'll be over 186,000 meals,” he said with an incredulous, happy shake of the head.

By the way, the actual total is 186,624 over those 11 years.

In 2025, Rise Against Hunger supported 2,532 schools, fed 282,028 students daily, trained 13,050 farmers and garnered 3,988 metric tons of food produced or procured.

All of that help was delivered to 41 countries, including the United States.

Still, each meal starts with volunteers like Lawrence Academy students, who begin the process one scoop at a time.

“You know, we have a lot of partnerships with schools and churches and corporations that will partner with us, but to have [an organization] that's been partnering with us for 11 years now, doing events every single year and packaging that many meals is very unique and very special,” said Barletta.