April is Fighting Irish Fighting Hunger Month at Notre Dame. Nearly 17% of our family, friends, co-workers and neighbors here in northern Indiana do not know where they will find their next meal. One in four children in this area goes to bed hungry each night. Community organizations in the area are stretched even farther than ever before and the need is staggering.
The Fighting Irish Fighting Hunger food drive looks to ease that need. We here at Notre Dame are uniquely blessed and embrace the chance to live the University’s Catholic mission by helping to feed the hungry in our community. Funds collected during the drive will go to local area food pantries to help stock their shelves and to the local food bank to send backpacks of food home with hungry kids over the weekend.
This year’s drive will be held April 1 through April 30. As in the past, the focus of the drive will be monetary donations. With every dollar we donate, the food bank can turn into as many as nine meals. As in the past, we are splitting the donations between the United Way coalition of food pantries People Gotta Eat and the Food Bank of Northern Indiana.
For more information about the drive, go to FightingHunger.nd.edu. You will find links to the online donation sites for People Gotta Eat and the Food Bank of Northern Indiana and information on writing checks should you wish to donate that way. A collection jar for donations will be located in the Dean's Office at 100 O'Shaughnessy Hall.