Students at Notre Dame Academy are claiming victory today over students at Covington Catholic in the annual NDA/CCH Canned Food War. This year, the NDA Pandas pulled out all of the stops collecting 14, 468 canned goods. That is more than double the amount collected by the boys across the street.
While winning the canned food war and having the CCH boys come to NDA to clean up lunch for a day was a great incentive, it certainly was not the most important reward of this project. “The NDA/CCH Canned Food War was a great way for us to come together as a community and make a difference in the lives of others,” said Claire Suetholz, NDA senior. “It’s amazing to think that between the our two schools we collected over 20,000 canned goods. That will go a long way in helping those in need this winter.”
This annual battle began in 2010 when Student Council members from Notre Dame Academy wanted to do something to help fill the shelves of a local St. Vincent de Paul food pantry. They realized that if they challenged the boys at Covington Catholic to a Canned Food War, they could collect twice as many items for those in need.
The competition between these two schools has aways been intense but students at both Notre Dame Academy and Covington Catholic realize that everyone is a winner in this Canned Food War. This morning in a Thanksgiving prayer service held at Notre Dame Academy, NDA President Dr. Laura Koehl reiterated that thought saying, “The act of giving thanks is so meaningful in our lives. In serving one another we are doing Christ’s work as servant leaders.”
The war is over for this year and NDA students are thrilled with their victory and the thought of making a difference in the lives of others. The canned goods collected at NDA will be distributed throughout the St. Vincent de Paul food pantries of Northern Kentucky and Covington Catholic High School is donating their food items to Be Concerned.