The Turkey Blitz

It’s the Turkey Blitz!

By Vanessa Aragon (class of 2026) and Julia Schmitt (class of 2027)

Bishop O’Connell is hosting its annual Turkey Blitz, a two-week fundraiser to support the Thanksgiving efforts of the Gift of Peace run by St. Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, based in NE Washington D.C. The Turkey Blitz started last week on Nov. 10.

The fundraiser is organized by the Keyettes Club, an all-girls service group that has been around since O’Connell’s opening in 1957. The club helps all around the school community, doing everything from aiding teachers with setting up their classrooms and showing parents around at Back to School Night to assisting at the gala and hosting a towel drive for animal shelters. The most notable of its contributions is by far the Turkey Blitz, which is led solely by club members with little help from their moderators. “All of the groundwork is done by the students,” said Mrs. Friel, one of the three moderators of the club. “They’re designing all the posters, they’re talking to their peers, [and] they’re putting out the jars in all the different theology classrooms.”

The Turkey Blitz has been around for about 30 years at O’Connell. The idea first came from Mr. Crivella, a now retired art teacher, who was inspired by a transformative experience he had when St. Mother Teresa visited the school. Greatly moved by his interaction with her, he decided to find a way to support her convent in Washington. Originally, he would buy Thanksgiving dinners to give to the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, physically delivering turkeys the day before Thanksgiving to the mission.

“But now, what we do is we raise money and we provide money. We do some in-kind donations like physical things, but also to support their hospice and their overall year long food distribution programs,” explained Mrs. Friel when asked how the Keyettes continue to carry out Mr. Crivella’s idea decades later. “It’s the only Thanksgiving drive that we do each year . . . and I think it’s really special too that we as a Catholic school are able to specifically support an organization that has Catholic underpinnings of the Catholic faith of St. Mother Teresa.” So far the Turkey Blitz has been very successful. Last week, O’Connell partnered with Chipotle to raise additional money for the fundraiser. The total amount of money raised at the end of last week was $600, providing a great start to the fundraiser.

A little bit of spare change can go a long way in the Turkey Blitz. All theology teachers have jars for donations set up, and even a quarter can mean someone gets a meal. It is also possible to donate online here. Whichever theology class raises the most money  by Nov. 21 will get a free half dress-down day for all students—so find that spare change! If still curious about how to support the Turkey Blitz, email Mrs. Friel at lfriel@bishopoconnell.org