High School Students Raise Food and Funds for Food Bank
UPDATE: Catholic High raised 46,830 pounds of food equating to 44,701 meals and St. Joseph’s Academy raised 37,890 pounds of food equating to 39,864 meals.
Starting this week, Catholic High School and St. Joseph’s Academy are preparing for Challenge Day 2021 on Friday, March 5.
Challenge Day is a longtime tradition between an all-girls private school an all-boys private school. Each year, the two schools compete against each other in multiple categories to collect points that determine a winner at the conclusion of the competition. One component of the competition is a canned food drive for the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank. The schools receive points for raising food and funds for the Food Bank and those points are added to their total after their day full of games.
These high school students are competing while making a huge difference in the lives of food insecure individuals, including those in their age group. Many children are at risk of missing meals over the weekend and during holidays when they are not in school receiving free or reduced price lunches through the National School Lunch Program.
This is intensified by the pandemic as some children are still participating in virtual learning. Those children are forced to rely on their low-income parents for meals when those same parents have to choose between bills and food.
Per the latest Feeding America report on food insecurity, “Map the Meal Gap 2020,” 1 in 5 children in our Food Bank’s service area are food insecure. This statistic is from 2018 data; therefore, it is important to remember the pandemic has likely increased this number.
Challenge Day has happened since 2004, filled with theme announcements, dress up days, pep-rallies and more. This week long event is a prime example of steps for a successful food and fund drive. Be sure to check out our page here for other tips to help your office, school or organization host a food and fund drive.
Check out the thermometers below to see how the fund side of the event is going this week. We will update you with a winner and a total of food/funds raised in the coming weeks!
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