Crusader's Call to Contribute
Have you ever brought several jars of peanut butter to school? How about canned foods? If you have, you have been donated to the annual peanut butter drive or the annual canned food drive at Kapaun Mt. Carmel. These drives can potentially impact the lives of thousands of people a year, if the goals that are set are reached.
“We always used to make our goals [for drives] and the past few years we haven’t made them,” said Beth Ferraro, who has been teaching religion for the past 17 years. “So, they used to give out these incentives, like you could get a jeans day, the pie in the face thing. We met our goal for the canned food drive [so] students [got] to do a pie in the face.So, they have incentives, but that kind of bugs me, because I don’t think we should have to have incentives to be charitable, since we are a Catholic school. Its going to be different for different people.There's people who could bring 20 jars of peanut butter and there's kids at this school that, realistically, could only bring a couple.”
Ferraro is referring to the annual peanut butter drive, this year held from Sept 16 - 26.
“The last drive Kapaun [Mt. Carmel] had was the peanut butter drive,” sophomore president of Therese of Lisieux Lizzie O’Mally said. “Our goal this year was to accumulate 8,000 jars of peanut butter. We ended up accumulating 5,160 jars. [Which] was better than last year, and is certainly not a bad number. I have strong confidence in my peers and I believe that we have what it takes to go beyond the limits.”
To complete our goals for fundraisers, everyone needs to contribute however they can. This can be as simple as bringing a couple jars of peanut butter for the peanut butter drive or a few cans for the canned food drive.
“I absolutely think that being a good steward is essential to being a good Catholic and being a good Christian,” Ferraro said. “We’re in a stewardship diocese and other people at our parishes are sacrificing so that all the students can come to Kapaun. So, I think it's good for us to give back and to use our time and our talent and our treasure to give back to the greater community and it makes us better human beings.”
Another annual drive that KMC does is for Simply Hygiene. Simply Hygiene is an organization dedicated to help restore health, hope, and dignity to people within our community, according to their website. The website states that hygiene has the power to elevate an individual’s physical, mental, and economic health. Simply Hygiene distributes hygienic products to over 77,000 people every month. During the drive at KMC, students and staff are encouraged to bring hygienic basics to be donated to Simply Hygiene for those in need.
“[Our main goal is] to give those in the greater Wichita area access to essential hygiene products,” said Marketing and communication coordinator for Simply Hygiene, Sarah Mathews, said. “Currently, drives bring in approximately 17 percent of all of the products that we bring in. Every single product is handed out or distributed and every product makes a difference in the lives of the people that are on our distribution lists.”
The drives that KMC do every year help students and staff give back to the community. These drives can help thousands of people a year, if everyone contributes as much as they are able to.