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On Friday, November 22, Gray Bees bum-rushed the booths in the cafeteria to participate in the first bake sale of the school year. Sugary snacks ranging from brownies, cookies and cakes covered two tables. Seniors Alfifie Nyeor, Denroy Charles, Monta Harris and Nolan Edmonson helped collect money and control the surge of students. Students donated the money to Pastoral Associate Sister Linda Klaiss for the food pantry.
“I realized after hearing a few announcements in convo that there are a lot of opportunities to do charitable work,” Senior Nolan Edmonson said. “I thought that it was a great idea to hold another charitable event.”
For the past few weeks, numerous people have stood up in convocation, calling upon the community to contribute to annual funds, clothing drives and opportunities to work at soup kitchens.
After conversing with Senior Group Leader, Brandon Johnson, Monta realized it was imperative that St. Benedict’s students find a way to give back to their own community.
“Miloody Vincent said that she (Sister Linda) didn’t have enough food [for the food pantry],” Monta said. “I thought ‘people have to eat, right?’” He assembled a team of seniors: Brandon Cruz, Brandon Johnson, Jalen Jones and Nolan Edmonson.
With the holiday season rolling around, they decided that it was best that the proceeds go towards Sister Linda’s pantry. “I think that it is very important because she is part of the community. She is the number one food pantry in the city. I know that everyone can contribute; we need to try our best to [contribute],” Brandon Johnson said.
Additionally, Nolan and Monta gathered some envelopes from the Advancement office to distribute at the bake sale. Their hope was that students would be inclined to donate to the annual fund, another charitable initiative being promoted by Director of Annual Giving, Didier Jean-Baptiste, while purchasing snacks from the bake sale.
In the beginning, they struggled with finding people to help contribute food to the bake sale. “I didn’t know who was bringing stuff in,” Monta said. “Thanks to Ms. Flynn, Ms. Sweeney and Ms. Hall, we managed to have a successful bake sale.”
“I have a lot to be thankful for, so if I have anything to offer, I’m glad to do it. . . We all need help from time to time. We need to make things easier for one another,” Leahy House Volunteer, Jill Hall said.
Until 3:45 pm, there was a large crowd of students hovering around the table. Some were waiting for the line to clear, others held casual conversations with their friends. You could hear the people working the counter shouting out prices (everything was 50 cents or $1) and multiple seniors yelling, “Nahh don’t close your wallet, you can give more!”
“The soft chocolate chip cookies were good,” UD I Walter Barnes said. “Their prices were reasonable, they were better than last year’s prices.”
About an hour passed and the crowd dissipated. Plenty of snacks were left on the table, as Monta and Alfifie counted the proceeds.
The seniors behind the counter struck up a deal with students from the Drama Guild. All of the leftover food was given to them, to sell at their second showing of “Oedipus Rex.”
With a decent turnout, the group of seniors were able to raise $168 for Sister Linda’s food pantry. “The number one reason why it is important for us to support Sister Linda is because she is family and we support family at Benedict’s,” said senior Miloody Vincent.
