At 2:00 AM on Sunday, February 23, fifteen bleary-eyed seniors, myself among them, arrived at the top of the circle. We were exhausted and freezing, but exuberant after one of the most highly anticipated events of senior year: the Midnight Run.
Five hours earlier, the fifteen of us, as well as faculty members Ms. Sarah Holzschuh, Ms. Kelly Teagarden, Mr. Mark Feiner, Mr. Nathan Kress, Mr. Mark Cerniglia, and Ms. Hilary Brodhun, convened in the same place to pack up three vans with blankets, clothes, toiletries, and bagged lunches to distribute to New York City’s homeless.
None of us really knew what to expect. “I kinda just signed up on a whim,” said Dani Freedman, Group XII. “Seniors in the past said it was really fun, but I wasn’t expecting to be so affected by it.”
“I was nervous and excited – mostly because I wanted it to live up to what others had told me to expect. Fortunately, it surpassed my expectations,” said Michelle Basta, XII.
We were definitely kept busy. While half of us sorted the donated clothing and toiletries, the other half headed to the kitchen to make sandwiches. Many girls napped on the way to the city to save up some energy for the chaotic night ahead. Though we were worried after no one showed up to our first stop, our second one was a whirlwind of activity.
“We were there for an hour,” Freedman said, “but I thought we were there for ten minutes. Time flew by so quickly – we were having fun and helping people at the same time.”
We became deeply invested in finding the perfect item for each person. One of the highlights of the night was finding a fur coat for one woman who was afraid nothing would fit her. In a very Cinderella-like moment, she tried it on, and it fit perfectly. She later thanked us by singing and sharing a poem she’d written.
“I feel like a lot of the time you get to donate the clothes, but don’t get to see the end result, or you see the end result, but aren’t really a part of the process. This was really cool because you got to see it all the way through,” said Alex Morales, XII.
After five stops, we headed home with empty vans and many memories and stories from the incredible people we had just met. It felt weird rushing to my car for warmth, when I had just met so many who had to sleep in the cold.
“People blame homeless people for abusing the welfare system, but sometimes lives just fall apart,” said Basta.
Morales adds, “I feel like we forget that they’re people. When that woman shared her poem with us, we got to see the creative side of someone we might have just overlooked. It was beautiful.”
