Every year, Jesuit schools along the East Coast participate in a tradition known as The Great Ignatian Challenge. Schools ‘compete’ against each other, trying to raise the most food for charity. All proceeds help feed hungry individuals during the Thanksgiving season. Additionally, clothing and money are given to benefit our sister charities.

Here at Prep, students have participated for the last ten years. The proceeds help our neighbors throughout Hudson County. “We donate everything to the local charities in Jersey City, which serve the greater Hudson County area. This supplies their Thanksgiving distribution events or helps backfill after the distributions. Currently, Prep is contributing to The Campus Kitchen of Saint Peter’s University and to the Clothes Closet. We donated eighteen thousand pounds of food, along with one hundred turkeys there,” said Mr. Cummings ‘10, an administrator at Prep in charge of the Challenge. “We also give to Saint Mathew’s Lutheran Church Food Pantry. As a collection of Jesuit schools, we are raising [countless] pounds of food each year.”

“We also have some private funders of the Challenge to help motivate students to donate. Jim Rowen is one such example. Each year, he and other backers pledge to increase student engagement in the challenge, through prizes and grants to winning schools. Here, the money  raised is put towards scholarships and financial aid,” he added.

In years past, the donation count was at times lackluster. For the past two years, students raised less than ten thousand pounds. This year though, administrators set an ambitious goal: 20,000 pounds of food in three weeks. “Although it is a short window to achieve it, I know that the school is capable of doing it,” Mr. Cummings stated. “I mean, this past week, we raised about five thousand pounds of food overall. The school has raised more than one hundred turkeys. [Note: This does not include in-person donations.] We have raised more than a quarter of our goal. So far, we have beaten all of our benchmarks.”

“Our success depends on the school, especially how creative students want to be. We want to involve the local businesses around Prep. If we could get each business to donate a hundred pounds, we could raise thousands of pounds of food [in excess of our goal]. I hope to challenge students, to get them to think outside the box. I want students to realize that each little donation adds up. If each student contributes just twenty to twenty-five pounds, we would have a majority of our goal.”

To motivate students and boost participation, Campus Ministry has created several prizes for students. “The primary focus should be on helping others. But we get that some students may not be willing to support. To combat this, we created different awards for students. Our first reward is a week of dress-down for the highest class. Similarly, the highest student will also receive a week of dress-down. For freshmen and sophomores, the highest achiever [in that class] will be given the campus ministry lounge for a day. Seniors and juniors will receive different prizes to be announced in the coming weeks. Additionally, all students who donated during the week will be placed into giftcard giveaways. In the final week, any student who participates in the challenge has an opportunity to participate in activities like no other.”

To sum it up perfectly though, Mr. Cummings said, “We hope every student decides to participate and help those around us in need.”

Students who wish to participate can do so through the online shop: https://yougivegoods.com/spp-thanksgiving2022 or via the bins in the MSC lobby. (In-person donations must be done properly. Student’s full name, class year, and date must be clearly marked on the bag.)

Let’s get this done!