Aid at Assumption Arena

When The Big Event reached out to Father Todd Philips, priest of St. Patrick’s Parish, about making their third-annual food drive a job site, he couldn’t have been happier.

“When I was contacted by The Big Event, they needed some more places for people to work and more things to do, and we needed more people, so it was a wonderful phone call to get,” Philips said.

Volunteers from Cardinal Key, Newman House and Health Professions teamed up with St. Patrick’s parishioners to package over 10,000 meals. According to Philips, the food drive is a project of Catholic Relief Services, an organization in the Catholic Church that “feeds the hungry and helps people in the poorest of the poor areas of the world.” For recipients, the food is easy to prepare and only requires boiling water, making it an efficient meal for those in need. This particular batch of meals will be shipped to Africa.

To pull off the event, Philips said the parish usually needs 50 volunteers, but it also raises funds to bring in food and trucks to ship out the finished packages.

“Our parish raises money to pay for the food and also the expenses to bring the truck here to carry the food,” Philips said.

Volunteers donned hair nets and gloves to complete the project, celebrating every 1,000 meals with a ring of a gong while energetic music filled the space. Though Andrew Smith, junior of Chadron, said he was originally placed at an outdoor jobsite, helping with the food drive didn’t disappoint.

“We all expected to be outside, but that didn’t really work out. I think this is definitely the next best, because we get to feed people (and) we’re singing and dancing,” Smith said.

Philips also remarked on the atmosphere and said the energy made the project even more enjoyable.

“It’s very fast-paced and high-energy,” Philips said. “You can tell they’re enjoying themselves and having a lot of fun.”