Kellenberg Memorial High School students were a little shy of last year’s 82,000 pounds of collected food donations, but nonetheless gathered over 77,000 — 38.3 pounds per student — as well as 27 turkeys in this year’s collection, part of the school’s Great Ignatian Challenge.
The challenge — an annual food drive competition — was created by Jim Rowen, a 1982 graduate of Fordham Prep, a Jesuit high school in the Bronx. It was inspired by the Jesuit mission of being “women and men for others,” and intended to underscore the collective service and generosity among participating Jesuit high schools. Twenty-four schools across the country compete in the challenge, and the food they collect goes to a variety of charities. Kellenberg, in Uniondale, is the only Marianist school to take part, a Catholic educational institution under the auspices of the Society of Mary religious order. The school has been a part of the challenge for four years.
Students were initially encouraged to collect 15 pounds of non-perishable items each for the drive, to provide food for those in need on Thanksgiving.
“We’re taught here to give to people and do good to our neighbors,” Kellenberg freshman Peyton Eckman said. “So this shows that even though we don’t know them, we still know that they’re in need, so we provide for them.”
“We are helping Island Harvest out,” Bryan Finn, a religion teacher at the school said, referring to the Long Island food bank. “We are also helping Hempstead Caring Hearts,” whose focus is homelessness.
The food drive is organized by the campus ministry office. “Really it’s the great response of our students, who are down here each morning, helping me and some of the other members of the faculty sort this stuff,” Finn said. “We try to deliver it all with our students, to give them the experience of serving the community.”
“The final push is obviously the largest donation,” he added. “Especially with Thanksgiving (this) week, people are in the mind of giving to those that are in need.”
Students are encouraged to bring in more than just “one can that’s kind of left over,” Finn said. “Go out to the supermarket, (and) try to buy something that you think will make a difference for somebody else.”
The turkeys are earmarked for specific charities. “The turkeys are going to St. Brigid’s” — in Westbury — “and the turkeys are going to Queen of Peace” — in Queens Village — “and Hempstead Caring Hearts,” he said.
The school usually does three drives throughout the year. Last year that included helping out mothers with diapers, formula and other baby needs. This year it included a financial drive to pay for two skiffs for a mission in the Solomon Islands. The mission was led by Archbishop Christopher Cardone, brother of the school’s chaplain, Thomas Cardone.
“That’s our foreign response, how we help people outside of the United States,” Finn explained. “… We hope to build a new parish there.”
The school’s main focus is helping the local community. “This is really tangible,” Finn said. “People bring in food, water, rice, vegetables, pasta. So it’s really a great response from our kids.”
According to Feeding America, more than 77,000 people in Nassau County experience a lack of access to food. In Westbury village, the home of St. Brigid’s — where 65 percent of households make over $100,000 per year, according to Census Reporter — there is still food insecurity. That’s where many of Kellenberg’s turkeys are going.
“They said … this year they will be feeding 487 families for Thanksgiving,” Finn said. “Just in Westbury. “
Two items not usually associated with each other were the most donated. “The most common food item, I would say, is boxes of pasta,” Finn said. “And this year, believe it or not, pancake mix. We do everything from breakfast all the way up to Thanksgiving dinner. From what the charities tell us, every year there’s more and more of a need out there.”
Peyton Eckman and two of her ninth-graders classmates donated another needed food item. “I donated rice,” Ali Lattanzio said, “just because I know that there’s a lot in each package, so I know it can help a lot of people.”
“And because it’s so good to store,” added Peyton, who, along with Ali and Olivia Edwards, hope their donations help those in need.
And they had another reason as well: “That it inspires other people to give back to others in need, like we do,” Olivia said.
