Ace Thanksgiving is a yearly tradition that The Alternative Center of Excellence School does for the community of Danbury out of gratuity for supporting our school.
Having an alternative school is not cheap, but the city of Danbury supports us and allows us to remain as one of the few alternative schools in the state. Our Thanksgiving tradition was started by a former student who came up with the idea of providing a community meal in acknowledgement of how appreciative our students are for attending such a special school in our city.
Our event could not happen without the help of others in the community. The family owned grocery store, Stew Leonard’s, supplies about 30 turkeys each year in addition to about 30 pies for dessert. We also enlist the help of the culinary program at Henry Abbott Technical High School to cook the turkeys and prepare side dishes like stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans that we serve to the public for free every year on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
To prepare for our event Rob Melillo gets a food permit, contacts Stew Leonards for supplies, works with Abbot Tech to have the turkey and side dishes prepared and delivered, and the entire ACE community of students and staff work together to transform classrooms into dining rooms. Students take turns serving food and drinks during the event and stay after to help clean up.
It is a day everyone comes together to show how much we appreciate our ACE community as well as the larger Danbury community. It is always well attending by everyday people in the community, our friends and family, as well as local firemen, EMS, police officers and town officials who appreciate the chance to come together to enjoy a meal.
