Feeding Those in Need ST. JOES COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER TO STOCK THE PANTRIES OF FOUR LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS.

It was a crisp, winter day on Saturday, February 25, as Deacon Jeffrey Font, Director of Campus Ministry, alongside parent and student volunteers searched for another spot to stuff a bag of groceries onto an SJ bus. The volunteers had been hard at work since 8am to fill as many of our busses as possible with nonperishable food for local pantries.

“It was so important to me that we host this Stuff-a-Bus event,” remarked Deacon Font, “especially after visiting the food pantries over the holidays.”

During St. Joe’s 2022 Season of Giving food drives, the school donated an entire busload of food to the Bridgeport Rescue Mission and the Thomas Merton Center.

“The Peer Ministers delivered the food,” continued Deacon Font, “and we were granted permission to go inside the pantries. What we learned is that during the holiday season, the pantries receive so much food, they’re filled to the brim. But what happens after the holidays? What happens by February when the food stops coming in but the need is just as great?”

Deacon Font posed this very question to the entire SJ student body at an all-school assembly.

As he stood in the middle of the gymnasium, he shared a few staggering statistics with our Cadets: nearly 35,000 children in Fairfield County go hungry each night; 13% of our homeless population is comprised of students younger than 18; and 9% of residents live below the poverty line, struggling to put food on the table every day.

The first annual “Still Hungry” Stuff-a-Bus event was inspired by this information. Designed as a school-wide service project, it would not only allow our students to fulfill service hours, but it would bring our community together in a way that has never been done before.

“Community service means being completely selfless,” remarked senior Cadet, Teagan Cavaliere. “To me, it means contributing time and effort in order to put the needs of others before my own. Being able to come together like this truly embodies the idea of putting God first, others second, and myself third.”

‘God First. Others Second. I Am Third.’ This is the new motto for SJ’s Campus Ministry department. It fits the bill perfectly with the Stuff-a-Bus initiative.

“These food pantries,” said

Deacon Font, “are vital to our local community. The Thomas Merton Center, The Bridgeport Rescue Mission, The Sterling House Community Center, and the Vincent de Paul Food Pantry help so many people each day, and they cannot do it alone.”

Deacon Font also found new ways to allow families and out-ofstate alumni to participate. Some parents hosted their own food drives at their places of work. Some alumni sponsored a “seat on the bus” by donating money to purchase groceries. St. Joes also partnered with middle schools in our area such as Holy Trinity Catholic Academy and St. Mark’s School. The middle schools held their own food drives and St. Joes brought the bus by for students to pack.

By 3pm on February 25, the St. Joes community had stuffed four 44-passenger busses, overhead storage included!

“It’s just amazing,” remarked Skyler Johansen ’23 as she volunteered alongside her father. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen so many groceries in one place! And to know that all of this came from the St. Joes community is awesome. It makes me feel like I’m truly a part of something special - something bigger than myself.”