After two weeks of collecting from pantries, neighborhoods, businesses and grocery stores, the Gonzaga Prep community on Wednesday, Nov. 24 will deliver more than 100,000 pounds of food to families and local agencies throughout the Spokane area.

“There are more food insecure people in the Spokane community than there were pre-pandemic. Gonzaga Prep students acknowledge the gritty reality of the world, and rise to the occasion through the Food Drive,” says Elizabeth Slamkowski, Director of Christian Service at Gonzaga Prep.

This year, more than 30 homeroom classes, teachers, staff, parents, and alumni worked together to collect food that is then divvied up to fill the pantries of individual families. The donations will support the individual families as well as two Native American tribes, 2nd Harvest Food Bank, Catholic Charities housing and a number of small food pantries.

On Wednesday morning, students, teachers, and staff will load food into vehicles, and then following Mass, deliver to families. Each family also receives a turkey and pumpkin pie. “Students respond enthusiastically to the food drive because they know they belong to the wider Spokane community and that some folks in that community are suffering,” Slamkowski says. “They truly are ‘lifelong learners in service to others.’ “

Gonzaga Preparatory School’s Food Drive is one of the largest and longest-running in the Inland Northwest. For more than 60 years, Gonzaga Prep students have committed to collecting food for those in our community who are most in need. According to the USDA, 1 in 6 households with children in the U.S. have difficulty putting food on the table.