Mater Dei students collect 5,672 pounds of food

During this time of need for all food banks through out the area, the students of Mater Dei High School in Middletown collected 5672 pound of food to be donated to the Food Bank. Great job to all of the students and high school that participated in this effort.

This fall the Mater Dei community answered the challenge to fight hunger in Monmouth County by participating in the Food Bank of Monmouth & Ocean Counties' annual Holiday Hunger Challenge.

The Student Activity Board's goal was for Mater Dei students to donate 4,000 lbs. of food to the Food Bank in time for Thanksgiving.

Under the direction of Steve Sciarappa, Associate Principal, Mater Dei students and faculty have been collecting food donations for the last six weeks. On Sunday, November 23 approximately a dozen students gathered at the school and spent the morning boxing and labeling Mater Dei's donation. In the early afternoon, a caravan from Mater Dei delivered the school's Holiday Hunger Challenge donation to the Food Bank's warehouse in Neptune.

After all the boxes were unloaded and weighed, Mater Dei's donation totalled 5,672 lbs.

Many local high schools generously supported the Food Bank's Holiday Hunger Challenge in an impressive display of what students can do to make a difference in their communities. Mater Dei's support for the Holiday Hunger Challenge is really in a league of its own, according to the Food Bank's website:

Biotechnology High School (250 students): 110 lbs.

Colts Neck High School (1,700 students): 684 lbs.

Freehold High School (1,425 students): 2, 737 lbs.

Jackson Liberty High School (1,425 students): 134 lbs.

Manalapan High School (2,100 students) 506 lbs

Marlboro High School (2,100 students): 485 lbs.

Mater Dei High School (400 students): 5,672 lbs.

Rumson Fair Haven High School (1,000 students): 651 lbs.

Shore Regional High School (749 students): 680 lbs.

Although Mater Dei's enrollment is less than 5% of the total combined enrollment of these schools, its students collected almost twice as much food as they all did.

Mater Dei is extremely proud of the kindness, compassion, and generosity of our students and their families.

For more information please contact:

Ray Brush, Director of Advancement
Mater Dei High School
538 Church Street
New Monmouth, NJ 07748
Tel: 732.671.9100, extension 18
Email: rbrush@materdeihs.org