Posted December 11, 2015

For most people the holidays include a table filled with delicious food surrounded by family and friends.

For many families that attend St. Elizabeth’s Community Center in North Philadelphia, however, covering the table with a holiday feast wasn’t financially feasible this year. But that changed when members of Devon Prep’s Christian Action Program (CAP) recently delivered thousands of food items and turkeys to the center.

Nearly 5,500 donated food items and 25 turkeys were collected during CAP’s annual Harvest Tide Food Drive. More than 150 cartons of food were blessed by Piarist Father James Shea, headmaster emeritus of Devon Prep, during the school’s annual Thanksgiving Mass.

CAP members loaded the donations onto a rented truck and delivered them to St. Elizabeth’s Project H.O.M.E Food Cupboard in North Philadelphia. Several volunteers were on hand to accept the donations of canned vegetables, soups, tomato sauce and tuna fish, jars of apple sauce, peanut butter and jams, and boxes of pasta, stuffing, rice and mashed potatoes among other things.

Through CAP, Devon Prep has had a long standing connection to St. Elizabeth’s Community Center. Each year CAP conducts food, clothing and school supplies drives that benefit the center.