After 40 Years of CFBF, StuCo Switches it Up

The Connecticut Food Bank Fundraiser (CFBF)
has been around for roughly 40 years, and is now in its peak
time of development. Big changes came to the CFBF this year.
Student Council President Alexander Skula ’25

announced the kickoff for this transformation in the No-
vember 4 assembly. These changes include a new name

— CFBF now stands for the Connecticut Food Share
Benefit Fundraiser, a new grade competition system, a
new documentary on food insecurity and a partnership
between StuCo and Maroon Key. Street fundraising ran

from November 9 through December 20. This is neces-
sary because only 8 of the 20+ stores Hopkins previ-
ously fundraised outside of agreed to take part this year,

meanwhile fewer people carry cash today than ever.

The need to shift the structure of CFBF’s tradi-
tional fundraising model was the impetus for these modi-
fications. Skula explained that the Food Share “really

depend[s] on our fundraiser, as we’re one of the largest

dollar amount donors to their cause.” However, the cus-
tomary method of fundraising outside of stores has been

less effective. Student Council Vice President Sarah Gal-
vani-Townsend ’25 shared that “around 50% of our dona-
tions come from parents,” which presents an opportunity

to broaden support for this important cause. Camille Pit-
tard ’29 thought that “at least in the J School, I don’t think

there’s enough hype around CFBF to make it on the fore-
front of people’s minds or make it feel super important.”

For the first time ever, Maroon Key will join
StuCo for CFBF. Maroon Key’s role will be working to
“educate the school community a little bit more beyond

[the] surface level” about food insecurity through the doc-
umentary and social media campaigns, said Skula. Both

on Maroon Key, Ripley Chance ’26 and Munib Kassem
’25 are working on the documentary. Chance explained

that they’re “going to try to get some first hand informa-
tion from experts” because “people think that people are

hungry, they don’t have food, they don’t have money for
food, but it can be a lot more complex than that.” Skula
said this approach “would show that we’re sort of more
than just the fundraiser, that we care about the cause”

and could even “entice other people to potentially sup-
port the cause, whether in the Connecticut Food Share it-
self, or if they’re across the country, then whatever food

bank or whatever food pantry they have in their area.”
StuCo is starting a period of exploration for
the CFBF fundraising methods. StuCo doesn’t “want to
change everything right away this year,” Skula explained.
Instead, they “want to sort of try things and see what works
and what doesn’t.” One change is to encourage the entire
community of Hopkins clubs to find creative ways to work
with the CFBF, such as launching a new event with clubs
or even advertising the fundraiser. They are extending their
partnership to clubs, and “knowing that it’s something
for CFBF” would “be a great way for clubs, especially
smaller clubs, to sort of get some publicity,” said Skula.
The competition among Hopkins students to raise
money for the CFBF was also changed instead of the most
hours. The competition is now “by counting percentage
points rather than hours,” shared Galvani-Townsend. She
added that StuCo hoped “this will boost participation and

school spirit by increasing the grade participation.” Karo-
lina Jasaitis ‘27 believed the new competition will “en-
tice people to contribute more.” Lora Kenyon ‘28 thought

that the new competition makes it so “now that I’ve done
it, I’m not going to be helping out my grade anymore.”

Skula proposed more changes to CFBF, one be-
ing another new form of collaborative fundraising with

restaurants “You can set a weekend or a day or an event
where a certain percentage of the revenue that [a restaurant]
collect[s] from you goes to the cause.” Henry Tanner ’25
has been participating in CFBF every year since 7th grade
and said “I really like the idea of restaurant fundraisers and
partnering with businesses that way.” He thought “it will
allow people to broaden the scopes of catering to help the

cause and encourage action.” Another strategy is expand-
ing waffle sales and “testing out in person volunteering at

the food share itself, which can sort of substitute, in terms of
number hours, with street fundraising and then some other
events that are not yet set in stone,” said Skula in assembly.
One of the co-heads of the Maroon Key Club,

Chloe Wang ’26, said that “Maroon Key is work-
ing to expand fundraising opportunities/avenues, go-
ing beyond just storefront.” She added that Maroon

Key “worked on a partnership with Chef Duff from
[Sunrise Cafe] to raise awareness” on food insecurity.
Another new aspect of CFBF this year is the
documentary on food insecurity and CFBF. Kassem said

that he knows “COVID just killed the vibe for a lot of dif-
ferent things, but hopefully we can get this thing back.”

The documentary is set to be finished “early December,”

said Chance. Chance explained that the goal of the docu-
mentary is to “push people to go out and fundraise and

to educate them about what we’re fundraising for.” Kas-
sem explained that he wanted “that feeling of enthusi-
asm” and “camaraderie that I felt in the seventh grade”

about CFBF. Ariel Adams ’27 said she thought the docu-
mentary will help raise awareness on food insecurity, al-
though “it all depends on how much it plays on people’s

emotions.” Skula explained that he hoped the changes
will “more deeply involve more of the community.”