Last Thursday, Prep students walked on the Parkway with the Hurtado Food Pantry, and delivered "Blessing Bags" consisting of socks, hats, gloves, and toiletries to Philadelphia's visible homeless population. Students talked with these men and women, and in each bag passed out pamphlets advertising various outreach programs in the city - information that was provided by the Bethesda Project (which runs 13 shelters in the city of Philadelphia). Some students paused to pray with the people on the Parkway.
Hundreds of pounds of supplies were collected from students, alumni, faculty, and staff, and most notably through the Mother's club which organized an enormous drive of hats and gloves.
In addition to the bags that were distributed on the Parkway and in Suburban Station, teams of students took supplies (mostly soap and deodorant) directly to the Bethesda Project's emergency shelter "Our Brother's Place" and were treated to a tour of the facilities. Moreover, toiletries, clothing, and other assorted supplies to the Franciscan's soup kitchen in Kensington, St. Francis Inn. In total, the Prep donated over 585 pounds of material in one day.
Thank you especially to: Our very generous donors in the Prep community, Club Co-Presidents Andrew Bracken, '17 and Matthew Zito, '17, the students who were able to help us prepare and sort the donations, the students who walked on the Parkway on that cold day, the Mother's Club (especially Mrs. Debbie Bevilacqua, who helped co-ordinate "Operation Warm and Toasty II" ... which collected approximately 70 pounds of material) as well as Mr. Sam Deitch and Mr. Frank Raffa who helped lead the event.
