Sophomores Ava Khong & Lucia Redling (center indoors kitchen) through the Student Chefs Take Out program answered the call of the Spirit to make sausage & peppers & breaded chicken dishes; six additional students, mostly freshman & sophomores, felt called after school to join the Cooking for Christ program to chop produce for a big healthy fresh salad. Of course let’s not forget the additional 3 student volunteers who stood amidst the cold snow pack outdoors in a parking lot to distribute the hot meal. Three programs came together for one small half hour yesterday during school to make a difference for a dozen people or so. “Hot food, really?” someone commented. It’s a small moment in a complex picture.

Since March of 2020 no indoor kitchen welcomed back SHIP’s famous galley. In the old days for decades Immaculata would typically offer seven different hot trays for upwards of forty marginalized people to fill their plates with four hot vegetables/ three or more meats or fish. For us it was our small way of living out Luke 14:13 a few times a year.

During the reflection following our ministry yesterday, which ended with dropping off the leftovers at the Agape House homeless shelter, our faithful senior Lauren Antonacci, recent recipient of the Diocese’s Mother Teresa award, talked about the man who while being served received a phone call reminding him that the rent was now 2 months past due; he doesn’t have a job… It reminded us of why we do this. In honor of Mother Teresa, we do small things with great love… small things week after week, empowered by the altruism within our student body. Next week is the Spartan Spirit Food Drive—Let’s knock another one out of the park, Spartan Nation!