On Oct. 23, the New Trier High School Music and Theatre Department threw a food truck fundraiser outside the Winnetka Campus with a variety of North Shore food companies during students’ lunch periods and after school before their Township Band Festival concert.  

Elizabeth Bennet, the Music and Theatre Department chair, and Meghan Griffin, the Music and Theatre Department assistant, spent around six weeks collaborating with local North Shore food businesses and the New Trier administration to make Trucks on Township happen. 

Bennet and Griffin got North Shore food companies like Kona Ice, Hello Boba, and Bella’s Catering to come to New Trier and be a part of their fundraiser for the entire Music and Theatre Department. 

“We always need funds for students who might be in need, whether it be for private lessons or to bring in guest artists or for travel that we do,” Bennet said. 

Every opportunity and event in the Music and Theater Department, like private lessons and traveling, costs money, and not all students have the ability to afford those opportunities. So, Bennet and Griffin decided to fundraise to help those students and the whole department. 

“Partly [the funds are] going to be kind of considered an angel fund for students who are in need and then partly…when we bring in guest artists and stuff like that, that’s really for everyone,” Bennet said. “So, it’s two part: for those in need and for the good of the entire Music and Theater Department.” 

Trucks on Township benefited students in the Music and Theatre Department and the North Shore local food businesses who participated in the fundraiser. 

“With food trucks, they’re all local, and so it’s cool we get to support local businesses and our students all in one fundraiser. Also, [it’s] why we kind of went with the food truck route,” Griffin said. 

There were lines at multiple food trucks like Hello Boba, where sophomore Delaney Stein ordered a brown sugar milk tea with brown sugar boba while hanging out with a small group of her friends. 

With her almost $9 boba order in hand, which she described as “yummy,” Stein said, “I like this event. I wish it was less expensive, but I like it.” 

By running Trucks on Township before and after school, they also had the opportunity to build relationships with some of New Trier’s incoming Class of 2029, who attended and participated in the other night’s event, the Township Band Festival Concert. 

“We wanted something that could kind of be a community builder during the day and for the evening,” Bennet said. 

Sophomore Zoya Bogani had mostly positive feelings about Trucks on Township, too. 

“Overall, [Trucks on Township] was really fun. I liked how there were different food options, and the food was really good, too, and it wasn’t too expensive,” Bogani said. 

In the future, Bennet and Griffin hope to create more fundraisers for the Music and Theater Department.

“[Fundraising is] a fine line. We don’t want to oversaturate…we’re maybe hoping for one [fundraiser] a semester, or something like that,” Bennet said. “There’s a lot of factors, but we do hope to repeat it.”