The Prep Donates Socks to Philadelphia's Homeless Community

This December, Preppers donated white, black, dress, athletic and even wool socks, as well as thermals, totaling 161.8 pounds of material!    

Before

After

We then transported these socks to My Brother's House and St. Francis Inn.

The bounty at My Brother's House ...

... and at St. Francis Inn

At St. Francis Inn, the socks were given out individually to guests who needed them during Monday the 15th's evening meal (as can be seen in the picture below).

At My Brother's House, the socks and supplies were divided among the more than 20 current residents of the house, (as can be seen in the picture below).

Prep Alumnus Jack O'Brien, '80, heard about our sock drive and remembered that his friend Michael Foley (who, according to O'Brien "was a Long Island kid so he unfortunately couldn't commute [to the Prep]") happens to be the President of SockGuy: http://www.sockguy.com/  

O'Brien asked Foley if he would be willing to contribute to the Hurtado Food Pantry's Sock Drive, and Foley immediately sent the Prep three huge boxes, stuffed with socks.

Special delivery from SockGuy

"While I did not attend SJP," said Foley, "I am lucky to have a bunch of friends in the Philly area who did. We are happy and honored to help the SJP sock drive. Our Operation Happy Feet initiative delivers great socks during the entire year to ... charities and organizations ...."

SockGuy donated hundreds of socks (it appears to be 816 pairs!) to the Hurtado Food Pantry's sock drive, and this incredible donation will be distributed to other people and organizations this winter.  Stay tuned for details!

Guests at St. Francis Inn take home free bread earlier this month.

Please accept our thanks to all the parents, students, teachers, and staff members who supported the drive with their generous donations of material and time, and especially Beth Vander Vennet, Sam Deitch, Stew Barbera, and Ligia Baland for their extra work on this project.  Special thanks also must go to the Freshman class, who brought in more socks than any other class and therefore earned themselves a candy cane each last week!

Prep Families, Faculty, and Students Donate Over 1,000 Pounds of Food in October to the Hurtado Food Pantry

Preppers move food out of the pantry to deliver, 5 November 2014

Oftentimes charities face "diminishing returns" with each campaign, and contributions fall after initial excitement fades.

Oftentimes sports teams play "sandwich matches" between two important games - an emotional game and an upcoming, important game - and they often lose or under-perform.

This is perhaps what you would think would happen to the Hurtado Food pantry in October, on the heels of an extremely generous September (when homerooms donated 1,000 pounds of food, and freshman donated 417 pounds during their retreat).  Considering that the Prep is now participating in their historic Thanksgiving Food Drive, one would think that October would be a wash so to speak, but the Prep said "You should know me better than that!"

Our homeroom drive in October brought us 586 pounds of food, not including 41 pounds of candy, which was distributed on the day before Halloween to classroom tick-or-treaters from the Gesu school.

The parents of the Prep Football team collected 96 pounds of canned goods during Father Judge game (thanks to especially to Patricia Grey).

The Prep Mother's Club (thanks especially to Patty Mulvey) - who have long been great supporters of the food pantry - donated 283 pounds of food for St. Peter's (at 5th and Girard).

On 5 November 2014, a group of students delivered 556 pounds of food to the Mander Recreation facility at 33rd and Diamond; and 379 pounds of food to St. Peter's.

Check out the statistics here: https://docs.google.com/a/sjprephawks.org/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Arl-Q2b_qa5TdEpXbW1Pd2ZxMEc5TlhRajczZnNVWVE&usp=drive_web#gid=4

And a map of our deliveries here: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zDbHrxuV56K0.kyTVBPwBgG-s

The Prep Donates Food, Candy, and Socks to the Community's Poverty-Stricken

"Do you need diapers?"

"Not now."

"Do you need baby food?"

"Not now."

"Fine.  What do you need?"

"Candy, peanut butter, and socks."

As best as I can remember, that was my recent conversation with a worker at St. Francis Inn concerning this month's activities at the Hurtado Food Pantry.

'We need candy to give out to kids eating in our dining room during the Feast of St. Francis [Oct. 4]' was essentially what I was told.

Well, the Inn's prayers were answered, and their workers appeared to be rather surprised with the Prep's generosity when we showed up yesterday (Monday the 29th) with hundreds of pounds of supplies.

Sister Leslie Berks, OSF, marvels at how many containers of peanut butter appeared from the Prep.

On Thursday, September 25th, students brought in 1000.6 pounds of food to their homerooms, including approximately 170 pounds of fresh fruit, (which was carried off to My Brother's House, a shelter which is part of the Bethesda Project), and approximately 590 pounds of peanut butter, which were carried off to St. Francis Inn.

Preppers also donated 40 pounds of socks, which were donated to St. Francis Inn.

According to the Inquirer, homelessness is on the rise in Kensington, and the Inn is one of the few organizations combating this problem.  The Inn is a Franciscan institution, run entirely by private donations.

This month's food collection was a huge success, and involved a number of students and colleagues, and the contributions of many from our community.  Thank you to everyone for participating.

The Prep Delivers Food and Supplies to St. Francis Inn and My Brother's House

Just another generous day at the Prep!

Man cannot live on bread alone: The Hurtado Food Pantry has expanded to more than just food.

On Thursday, February 27th, the Prep's students, parents, teachers, and various community members donated fresh fruit and vegetables; shoes; towels; cereal; canned goods; toiletries; linens; blankets; DVDs; socks; men's clothing; and belts to the Hurtado Food Pantry.  

These items were sorted and then, as part of the Prep's "Homelessness Awareness Sleep Out," distributed to St. Francis Inn (which was recently profiled on philly.com, the link is here), My Brother's House (which is part of the Bethesda Project); and some food items were kept in the pantry for future donation.  The details of these donations can be seen on the Hurtado Manifest, in the March 2014 Various Deliveries section.

Participants of the Homeless Awareness Sleep Out, in Kensington, after making deliveries to St. Francis Inn.

The Prep Delivers 300 Pounds of Food to St. Peter's

Since the Archdiocese closed the Gesu Parish in 1993, the Prep community has had to look to other parishes for connections with our North Philadelphia community.  In keeping with this tradition, the Hurtado Food pantry delivered 300 pounds of food to a pantry at St. Peter's at 5th and Girard.

This delivery has expanded our the reach of our "Operation February Snowfall," during which we collected 925.5 pounds of food and given 800.6 pounds of food away to various organizations across Philadelphia.

Our deliveries to date can be traced on this interactive map.

These deliveries were made by Seniors Marcin Walski and Griffin DiStefano (pictured below), and were received by St. Peter the Apostle School Principal Sr. Rosalia Federici, SSND.

Marcin and DiStefano pose with some of the baskets while in transit to make these donations.

The Prep Distributes 500 Pounds of Food on President's Day

Assorted foodstuffs were received by alumnus Alex Hughes-Taylor, '05, (right) and delivered by seniors DiStefano (left) and Hyland (center).

As part of the Hurtado Food Pantry's "Operation February Snowfall" volunteers from the Prep distributed 500 pounds of food at three different sites today, February 17, 2014.  Prep seniors Griffin DiStefano, '14, and Bobby Hyland, '14, under the supervision of Prep Librarian Sonia Nelson, and teachers Joseph Kruse, '07, and Leo Vaccaro, '05, delivered the food to St. Francis Inn in Kensington, a city-run pantry at Mander Recreation Facility at 33rd and Diamond, and My Brother's House Men's Shelter (which is part of the Bethesda Project) at 15th and South Street.

This comes on the heals of a 185.4 pound delivery to St. Francis Inn that was made by seniors DiStefano and Marcin Walski, '14, on January 20th, as part of a project in Fr. Brian Frain's, S.J., religious studies class.

These deliveries would not have been possible without the generous donations of the Prep community, especially during our recent homeroom contest, during which we collected 796.1 pounds of food. 

This food was organized by DiStefano, Walski, Hyland, Nelson, Vaccaro, Kruse, Frain, and Mr. Jose Gonzalez.

The Hurtado Food Pantry would like to especially thank Prep Alum Alex Hughes-Taylor, '05, for coordinating the donation at the Mander Recreation Facility; Brother Fred Dilger, OFM, Sr. Mary Augustini, OSF, Sr. Leslie Birks, OSF, Fr. Steven Patti, OFM and Tammy Kinney for co-ordination and/or unpacking the delivery to St. Francis Inn; and Hilary Coulter of the Bethesda Project, for giving us a tour of the facilities.

Walski and DiStefano prep for a delivery on 20 January

Walski, Hyland, Nelson, Kruse, Frain, and Vaccaro sort food in the pantry in preparation for "Operation February Snowfall"

500 pounds in one van!

Stocking the canned goods with the Bethesda Project at My Brother's House

Corrections:  This post was changed to correct the amount of food that was delivered on 20 January: It was 185.4 pounds, not 203 pounds.