Community is a cornerstone of Merrimack College, and giving back is central to our mission and values. Mack Gives Back is a series of programs dedicated to supporting our neighbors in need. Whether volunteering to pack food during Mack Gives Back Days, contributing to our Thanksgiving basket drive, or purchasing gifts for children during the holiday season, Merrimack students, faculty and staff come together to make a meaningful difference.
Mack Gives Back was founded in 2012 by Merrimack’s vice president for mission and ministry, Father Raymond Dlugos, O.S.A. Members of the Merrimack community spread out across the Merrimack Valley to lend a helping hand to nonprofits and municipal agencies in need of assistance. Volunteers performed a number of services, including packaging food, raking leaves, picking up trash, stocking food pantries and more
Today, Mack Gives Back’s primary focus is on its yearly meal-packing event called Mack Gives Back Days, where thousands of Merrimack students, faculty, staff, and friends pack more than 100,000 meals. Packed meals are distributed to food pantries and soup kitchens in the Merrimack Valley to help people experiencing food insecurity.
Mack Gives Back also sponsors other community programs, including a Thanksgiving basket drive and holiday gift giving to children in need.
On Nov. 10 and 11, more than a thousand Merrimack students, faculty, staff, and friends participated in Mack Gives Back 2025, packing 175,000 nonperishable meals. Meals were packed in assembly lines throughout the Sakowich Campus Center and were then given to the Outreach Program for distribution.
This community-wide meal-packing event generates over 100,000 meals for our neighboring communities and commemorates both Veterans Day and St. Augustine’s birthday.
We’re deeply grateful to BJ’s Wholesale Club, the proud sponsor of this year’s Mack Gives Back Days! Thanks to your generosity and community spirit, Merrimack students, faculty and staff can make an even greater impact in the lives of those in need.
Donate a variety of school supplies to underserved children. To donate, you may either:
Help us collect culturally appropriate food items to bring a dignifying Thanksgiving basket to over a hundred families in need in the city of Lawrence and surrounding areas. To donate you may either:
Make a donation to the annual Hands to Help Holiday Toy Drive to help kids in need during the holiday season. To donate you can::
Read News: Mack Gives Back Days Preps 150,000 Non-Perishable Meals
Read News: Merrimack College Honors Those Who Serve by Serving Others
Merrimack students, faculty and staff packed more than 180,000 meals during six separate events this fall and spring.
Instead of the event’s typical raking, painting and outdoor cleanup activities, Mack Gives Back transitioned to providing meals to nearby food pantries and soup kitchens. We partnered with the Outreach Program, a meal packaging nonprofit that delivered food directly to Merrimack’s campus. Mack Gives Back participants then packaged the meals that were picked up and delivered to those in need.
Mack Gives Back may have looked different in 2020, but its impact was just as big as past years.
Instead of having everyone volunteering at the same time on the same day, our 2018 event had students, faculty, staff and alumni volunteering throughout a nine-day period: Thursday, Nov. 1 through Friday, Nov. 9, 2018.
The theme of our 2018 event was “Honoring Those Who Have Served by Serving Others.” This ties in with Merrimack’s founding mission to provide educational opportunities for local soldiers returning home from World War II and the Augustinian tradition of service.
