At the start of every school year since 1975, students from Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington come together in a two-week Catholic Charities soup drive campaign to fill the empty pantries of soup kitchens across the Arlington diocese.
For 10 days last month, O’Connell students, led by the student council team, provided more than 14,000 cans of hearty soup to five local food banks: the St. Lucy Food Project in Manassas, Christ House in Alexandria, Healthy Harvest in the Northern Neck, East End Mobile Park in Manassas, and Alive! Food Program in Alexandria.
“Thank you again for all your support with the planning and execution of the soup drive,” said Lori Sitka, outreach specialist for diocesan Catholic Charities St. Lucy Food Project. “The student’s generosity and love has impacted many within our diocese over the years and we’re grateful for your partnership.”
To encourage the students’ love of generosity and to inspire a little competition among the student homerooms, the student council leaders provide incentives. This year, the winning advisories (the homerooms with the most number of cans donated) received donut breakfasts. A senior advisory alone brought in just under 2,000 cans of soup, leading the way for the senior class whose contributions made up almost half of all the soup donations with nearly 7,000 cans.
“It was amazing to see the coming together of our student body,” said Jack Sague, SCA president.
“Even more amazing, was watching the soup totals grow into the thousands on the very last day of the soup drive,” said Mia Young, vice president. “It was a historic win by the senior class in an effort to feed so many.”
The Catholic Charities soup drive concluded with a living rosary on McMurtrie Field. Students, faculty and administrators gathered to form the beads of the rosary as O’Connell chaplain, Father Peter M. McShurley, led the student body in prayer.
“Seeing all the students gathered in prayer symbolizes the good O’Connell students can do and are capable of as thoughtful members of our school and community,” said Thomas Glynn, student council moderator. Shelby Downer, SCA class treasurer, and Olivia Mann, SCA secretary, agreed, “It was so great to see everyone working together and supporting each other for such a great event.”
