Middle schoolers at Buckingham Friends School in Lahaska spent a morning picking vegetables at a Bucks County farm that donates every pound it grows to people who need it.

Sixth, seventh and eighth graders traveled to Carversville Farm Foundation in Mechanicsville for the school's annual Upper School Day, a service-learning tradition that pairs classroom lessons with hands-on work, the school announced Sept. 29.

At the 350-acre organic farm, students harvested produce and learned how the foundation distributes food to soup kitchens, shelters and hospitals across the Philadelphia area. The farm donates everything it grows. In 2025, that meant 297,000 pounds of organic produce, 80,000 pounds of pastured poultry and grass-fed beef, and more than 667,000 free-range eggs, according to a PA Eats profile of the foundation published in May 2026.

"It was very educational. We learned a lot about how other people live and how we shouldn't take what we have for granted, like having fresh food and water, because not everyone has that," said Basie, a seventh grader.

Classmate Oak, also in seventh grade, said the work felt meaningful because it helped people with fewer resources. After the morning harvest, students returned to the Buckingham Friends campus for team-building activities to strengthen relationships across grade levels. Sixth grader Teagan said the group came back with good energy and called it a strong way to start the school year.

Founder Tony D'Orazio and his wife launched Carversville Farm Foundation in 2013. In a May 2026 PA Eats profile, D'Orazio described the farm's approach to feeding people: "One of the unique things about our model is that a chef at a community kitchen gets to order like they would working in a fine restaurant."

The nonprofit now works with more than 15 partner organizations, including The Community Grocer, Broad Street Love and Philly House, Philadelphia's largest and longest-running shelter. The farm also serves as an educational hub, welcoming tours and visits from groups including college students and elementary-age children.

Upper School Day is part of a broader service-learning model at Buckingham Friends, a Quaker school founded in 1794 that enrolls about 140 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The school also runs a Joint Environmental Mission program, an international exchange initiative that connects upper school students with partner schools around the world.