For the past 20 years or so, staff and students at Assumption College high school here in Brantford have made it their mission around Halloween time to try to help make a positive difference in the lives of those who are going through difficult times. This year was no exception! A great many students and staff including students in the Social Justice and Equity class partnered with the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVP), Brant, to conduct a food drive, “Assumption Scares Hunger”, to help families in need in our community.
It looks like Assumption College really did scare hunger away!
Last year, 2023, in response to the increased number of families going through difficult financial times, staff and students redoubled their efforts, hand-delivering flyers to the residents of West Brant. Their efforts were greatly successful, and yielded an estimated 18,000 pounds (8182 kg) of food and toiletries, a 50% increase from the previous year.
This school year, again, in response to still more financial hardship in the community, staff and students at Assumption College increased their efforts yet again! Over 6000 flyers were hand-delivered to residents of West Brant, Mount Pleasant and Burford.
On October 30th of this year, the day before Halloween, over 300 students, some at the school and some on one of 70 carefully mapped-out routes collected an estimated 25,000 pounds (11,340 kgs) of food and toiletries!!!
It was an amazingly successful event, collecting substantially more donations of food than last year and scaring hunger away even further!
The event was extraordinarily well organized, especially considering the potential for chaos as many thousands of items came in over the span of a few hours. The school cafetorium resembled a beehive of activity, with students scurrying to and fro, each with their own set of tasks. Best before dates were checked, and food was organized into various categories in preparation for delivery to the St. Vincent De Paul store where they will eventually be packed into food hampers for our neighbours in need.
That night, our truck brought approximately 400 banana boxes filled with various types of food, some with personal care items, back to our store!
Thank you to our SSVP Brant volunteers, Robert T., Paul V., Cameron B., Mark J., and Frank B, who loaded, unloaded and got the donation to the store in our truck; Jeanette L. who collected recyclable bags as they were emptied by the students and brought, them to the store for use; Kristine P., our SSVP Thrift Store Manager, who helped get the Cravo carts emptied and lined up the truck, driver and dedicated staff to assist on that night; and our VP – Youth, Peter Giordano, for the planning and coordination plus hours of moving food inventory to ensure that the store had sufficient Cravo carts to allow the store to accept general donations on the required days.
The following day, 10 Assumption College students came to the store for the morning and helped put a big dent in the work that needs to be done at the store to organize the food further.
Food was organized into flats and put out onto our food shelves, which were all but empty prior to the event. In addition to that, there were cash donations in the range of $500. That money will be used to purchase grocery store gift cards so that our neighbours in need can purchase fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, etc.
All in all, it was an extraordinary event, with amazing results!
Thanks again to everyone who was involved in this Herculean effort, both at SSVP and Assumption College!
We members of the Society of St Vincent de Paul Brant would like to pass on our deepest gratitude to the students, faculty, and staff who worked tirelessly for a great many hours to make this happen!
The students and staff worked expeditiously, joyfully, and with nothing but warmth, generosity and benevolence in their hearts!
That these students were able to put so much of themselves into this effort is a reflection of the collective wisdom, guidance and positive role modelling of their teachers and parents.
Not only are the students’ parents and teachers making a difference in the lives of the less fortunate today, but they are fostering a generation of students who will also carry their compassion for others into the future, touching the lives of countless numbers of people, and making the world a better place, filled with love and hope!
Kudos to you all!!
Together with the amazing volunteers at the Society of St Vincent De Paul, we are making a huge difference in the lives of people who have all but lost Hope.
I would like to end with a comment posted to the West Brant Neighbourhood Association Facebook page:
“To the young students going door to door for donations from Assumption College High School for SSVPBRANT: You are all amazing and so polite! Well done all of you! I’m in Mount Pleasant and it’s so refreshing to see manners and young people making a difference in the lives of others . You’re amazing! Keep up the great work . Your parents and teachers will be proud 👍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🎃 ”
And yes, proud we are!
There were a great number of similarly positive responses to the post. This is indicative of the tremendously positive community response that the campaign has generated.
Yes, congratulations Assumption College community! You truly did scare away, hunger!
Cheers and God Bless you all!!
Media:
Assumption students aim to scare hunger (Brantford Expositor)
ACS hits record breaking numbers for annual food drive (Brant Beacon)
Assumption High School’s Annual “Assumption Scares Hunger” Food Drive Collects 25,000 Pounds of Food (BScene)