SCRANTON, Pa. — Students at Scranton Prep are participating in a challenge to help ease food insecurity in their community.
This year, students collected thousands of pounds of food as part of the Great Ignatian Challenge, a yearly competition among Jesuit schools to bring in food donations for local charities.
Stacks of donations fill the halls of the school on Wyoming Avenue.
Paddy Devaney, the student council president, says he started raising money for the challenge through his landscaping business and got some classmates on board to help.
"I clean up leaves for profit, so I might as well gather a few student volunteers and raise some money, rake people's leaves, and ask if they want to make a donation, and it goes toward this food," said Devaney.
Through Paddy’s Lawn Care, Devaney was able to collect 9,000 pounds to help his school fight food insecurity.
In total, Scranton Prep collected 78,880 pounds of food.
The donations will be taken to more than a dozen area food pantries.
"Last year, we gathered some data from our charity partners as to what this means to them, and a lot of them said it kept them through the holiday season, so the food goes in and goes off the shelf the next day," Virginia Farrell said.