Before delivering baskets to the needy, students, faculty, and staff attend a prayer service in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs.

Thanksgiving is a special time at Jesuit High School. The focus of the entire Jesuit community of students shifts from the lessons of the classroom to the lessons of life. As the students ponder on and give thanks for their blessings, they consider those who have much less, who may even struggle to put food on their table.

Long before Fr. Pedro Arrupe, superior general of the Society of Jesus, put the call to service in the simplest of terms, asking us to be “men for others,” the students of Jesuit High School of New Orleans were living this ideal. At least as early as 1927, a Thanksgiving Drive was being organized by the student Sodality, who placed boxes in each classroom for the collection of food items for the city’s poor.

Today director of community service programs Mr. Kevin Murphy ’00 leads the students in providing Thanksgiving baskets for more than 420 families. Each homeroom provides a Thanksgiving meal for four or five families. A typical approach in the homerooms is to create committees (communications, finance, shopping, packing, and delivery) to accomplish the task.

The drive culminates the day before Thanksgiving, this year November 27, when classes are replaced with final events and tasks:

Wednesday of Thanksgiving Week starts before the sun rises as students and teachers go shopping at Robert’s on Robert E. Lee Boulevard.

5:30 a.m. – Shopping committees, with homeroom teachers in tow, flood Robért’s at West End to purchase perishable items for their baskets. While there, they enjoy a shopping discount and a hot breakfast courtesy of the Robért family.

7:00 a.m. – Back on the farm at Carrollton and Banks, homerooms head to the cooler to receive a turkey for each family, courtesy of the Class of 1983, who for the past 16 years has provided a turkey for every family being fed.

7:30 a.m. – The shopping done, homerooms are putting the final touches on their well-organized baskets.

8:00 a.m. – To pause and reflect on their actions, students convene in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs for a Thanksgiving Drive prayer service. This year, Mr. Taylor Bacques ’09, one of two Alumni Service Corps members at Jesuit, will help the students focus with his remarks about the meaning of the drive.

9:00 a.m. – The school yard becomes a hub of activity as homerooms move their baskets to their vehicles for delivery. Delivery committees, accompanied by teachers and perhaps a parent or two, make their way to the neighborhoods of the city to brighten the lives of a few hundred families.

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving Week at Jesuit is delivering baskets to needy and appreciative families.

Jesuit Alumni Support the Drive – To ensure that as many families as possible are reached, Jesuit alumni provide baskets for 180 families. Likewise, several individual alumni classes adopt families to provide for. For instance, the Class of 2007 is providing baskets for 15 families this year.

Midday – At midday on Wednesday, the drive is complete and students head home to begin their holiday, hopefully satisfied that they have done good work and that they have given of themselves to lighten the burden of others.

Thanksgiving Day Mass

The entire community of Jesuit High School is invited to a family Mass on Thanksgiving Day at 10 a.m. in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs. Please consider beginning your day by joining with other Jesuit families to worship and give thanks.