Oct. 27, 2021 – Now in its sixth year the Great Ignatian Challenge has returned with 15 Jesuit high schools from the province participating. The Challenge is an annual holiday food drive competition intended to raise the students’ awareness of hunger and inspire them to take action by working to feed the hungry in their communities.
The school are:
- Boston College High School (Boston, MA)
- Canisius High School (Buffalo, NY)
- Cheverus High School (Portland, ME)
- Fairfield College Preparatory School (Fairfield, CT)
- Fordham Preparatory School (The Bronx)
- Georgetown Prep (Washington, DC)
- Gonzaga College High School (Washington, DC)
- Loyola School (Manhattan)
- Loyola Blakefield (Towson, MD)
- McQuaid Jesuit (Rochester, NY)
- Regis High School (Manhattan)
- St. Joseph’s Prep (Philadelphia, PA)
- Saint Peter’s Prep (Jersey City, NJ)
- Scranton Prep (Scranton, PA)
- Xavier High School (Manhattan)
These schools will engage in some friendly competition to see who can collect more food for the hungry. Inspired by the students’ collective commitment to social justice, Fordham Prep alumnus Jim Rowen ’82 has pledged up to $450,000 this year for tuition assistance at the participating schools. The donation will be divided among the schools based on the amount of food collected per student.
This friendly but spirited competition will run from now through November 24. Last year, the schools participating in the Challenge collected and distributed over 168,372 pounds of food. Over the past five years, the Great Ignatian Challenge has collected and distributed more than 302 tons of food.