De Smet High School students collect 11 tons of food to donate

By KMOV Staff

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    ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — For the last six weeks, De Smet Jesuit High School has been competing with other Jesuit high schools around the country for the Great Ignatian Food Drive challenge.

The goal was to raise nine tons of non-perishable food to be donated to a local pantry. And, well, De Smet blew their goal out of the water by collecting 11 tons of food over the last six weeks. For perspective, that’s about the weight of two Asian elephants.

Students unloaded vans of food at the St. Patrick’s Center on Tuesday.

“I knew we’d meet the goal. Our students rise up to the challenge, whenever we ask them to be generous,” President Ronny O’Dwyer said. “The motto of our school us being men for others, and they really grasped onto that and make it their own. Especially this time of year, and especially coming out of covid, there is a heightened awareness of what the needs of the world are, and they want to do their best to help out as best as they can.”

This was the first year of the collection, and De Smet plans to make this an annual event and hopes to get more local schools involved.

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