Campus Ministry has been hard at work promoting and running the annual Drive for the Homeless this past week. The junior pastoral team, with the help of Fr. Matthew Stewart, S.J., has taken hundreds of donations from all classes in an exciting competition format similar to the recent Food Drive.

All of the donations that the Drive for the Homeless brings in go to one of two places. SLUH has established close partnerships with two Jesuit homeless organizations for many years, and will send all proceeds to them.

“St. Francis Xavier College Church has something called Winters Inn, which is a place where homeless men can come to stay overnight,” said Stewart. “And they hand out things like toiletries, coats, and blankets. The second place is called St. Louis Winter Homeless Outreach, and we donate blankets and money to them and they will distribute the items.”

Donations are more essential this year than ever before after the pandemic, which hit homeless populations especially hard. These donations will go directly towards helping homeless men and women within the St. Louis area to endure the looming winter. 

“We’re accepting coats, blankets, backpacks, hand warmers, and toiletries like soaps, conditioners, and any of those things,” said junior Brock Johnson. “We’re not setting a specific goal because anything really helps them right now, especially coming out of a pandemic where they did not get a lot of support because everything is really isolated.”

The Drive has been entirely run by the Junior Pastoral team who voted, organized, and planned out the week as a constructive way to raise money and goods for the homeless. Their hard work over the last two weeks has helped to assist the most needy within our community and to impact the greater St. Louis community. 

“We presented ideas within the Junior Pastoral Team and then we voted on them, and that was the voting process,” said Brock Johnson. “We organize it with tables out in the hall where the items are collected each day for each class. Then someone during their free period counts up all the items and then adds it to a sheet which calculates the points for each class.”

At the end of the drive yesterday, the Drive had raised 60 blankets, 40 jackets/sweaters, 35 hats, 45 gloves, 32 scarves, 76 pairs of underwear, 223 pairs of socks, 246 hot hands, 634 toiletries, and $3,160 towards Winters Inn and St. Louis Winter Homeless Outreach. Each item had a different numerical value, with blankets and jackets/sweaters being worth 5 points; hats, gloves, and scarves being worth 3 points; underwear, socks, hand warmers, and five dollars all being worth 2 points; and toiletries being worth 1 point each.

With all the points tallied in, the freshmen stood on top with 999 points to win this year’s Drive for the Homeless over the juniors (846 points), the Seniors (493 points), and the sophomores  (370.4 points).

The event has been important because it raises money, gathers donations, and helps out the St. Louis community overall. It is fitting that Campus Ministry takes control of the Drive because serving others is an essential aspect of SLUH’s Christian identity. Fr. Stewart points to the Bible to convey the importance of SLUH having a Drive for the Homeless.

“Matthew 25: ‘Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, and sisters, you do to me.’ The parable of  ‘When did we see You cold? When did we see You hungry? When did we see You thirsty? When you help the least of my brothers and sisters.’ So I think it's essential if we're going to be Christians, people of the gospel, that we have a connection with and help out people who are those least folks in our society,” said Stewart.