Donated food fills the hall at Madeleine School.
Donated food fills the hall at Madeleine School.
This Advent season, The Madeleine School in Northeast Portland decided to try something new and ended up breaking a school record. Building on its weekly school-wide service project, which provides lunches made by students and their families for people who are homeless in Portland, The Madeleine decided to join the global day of giving known as “Giving Tuesday.”

This day, observed on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, kicks off the charitable giving season and brings together the collective power of individuals, non-profits, schools and businesses to encourage and amplify small acts of kindness.

In a typical week, Madeleine delivers a couple hundred lunches downtown. The record stood at 409 lunches.

And then came Giving Tuesday. With everyone still getting back into the swing of school after Thanksgiving vacation, Madeleine’s students, faculty and staff pulled together and made 640 lunches that were delivered in the area around Pioneer Square downtown.

The meals were delivered by two parent volunteers, Tiffany and Reid Cooper, in coordination with the school’s partners, St. Stephen Episcopal Church and HOMEpdx, a community that forms friendships with people who are homeless.

“Reid and I really do have the best volunteer job at Madeleine,” says Tiffany.