MSM, CHS collect 124,101 cans

Published March 1, 2018

Mount St. Mary Academy and Catholic High School in Little Rock collected 124,101 cans and boxes of food over the past few months.

Catholic High School set its largest goal ever of collecting 100,000 cans and boxes of food to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in January and February. Each of the four grades competed to see who brought in the most items. In the end, after a three-week drive, the senior class won. The school collected 73,313 cans or items for Helping Hand food pantry and Jericho Way in Little Rock and the St. Vincent de Paul Society in North Little Rock. Monetary donations were given to STEP Ministries and Our House.

Seventy-six CHS juniors and seniors also used some of the monetary donations Feb. 18 to pack 12,096 meals to send to Nicaragua through Catholic Relief Services.

Mount St. Mary students collected more than 51,242 canned items and cash equivalents as part of the school’s Robin Hood Days in November. Robin Hood Days culminated Nov. 17 with local food agencies receiving the donations and school administration counting the collected cans to measure against the school’s goal of 30,000 cans.

Each grade level met their class goal in order to participate in an off-campus lunch in January. This year’s winning class was the senior class, which collected 16,255 cans. The cans and donations were given to Helping Hand and Arkansas Foodbank, with additional cash donations made to Centers for Youth and Families, the Salvation Army, Jericho Way, Abba House and The Van. It is estimated that more than 1 million canned goods have been collected by Mount St. Mary Academy since the school-wide Robin Hood program began in 1974.