ATRIUM—The first Bring Home the Bacon was held on September 5, 2019, and over 72% of the student body donated breakfast items for Father Dempsey’s charity.  Bring Home the Bacon is a house service and donation held multiple times throughout the year, and students bring in certain items of food by house and they can dress down for the day. Each student must bring in the item specified to their house, when they bring in the that item they can dress down.  The results of each house’s donations are calculated, and points are awarded for the top 3 houses towards the overall House Cup Standings.

The food from each Bring Home the Bacon drive then goes to Father Dempsey’s home for men.  Father Dempsey’s is a home for men who have fallen on tough times, and Chaminade has been partnered with this charitable organization for many years. The food then is then given to the men of Father Dempsey’s so that they can have a warm meal to start their day.

Another part of the process of Bring Home the Bacon is when Chaminade students go to Father Dempsey’s and help cook the food for the men. The students may do this for service hours. When the students go to Father Dempsey’s they are doing more than just making the food; they are eating and talking with the men that are there. The students try to make them feel comfortable, listen to their stories and just let them talk about themselves.

For today’s event, Lamourous brought in pancake mix, Gray brought in bacon, Meyer brought in cereal, Mauclerc brought in frozen oj, and O’Donnell brought in breakfast sausage. It was a good turn out many kids brought in the item that they had from their respected house.

The Senior leaders were working hard for those points too. They were standing outside the doors and outside out of the atrium handing out extra breakfast items to the students that didn’t have the items they needed.

I was able to catch up with Lamourous House Captain John Walsh. “It’s my first time doing the bring home the bacon I will say that it is very intense and stressful, but I am glad a lot of people are bringing in food for the guys at Father Dempsey’s.”  Senior leader Alex Meyer of the Mauclerc house Alex said, “I feel like it’s a great way for the Chaminade community to really just step out of its comfort zone and maybe go to Schnucks instead of Straub’s and buy some really cheap food for people that need it more than them.” Both John and Alex believed that this charitable act of Chaminade’s was a great thing for Chaminade to do for these men.

There was another special treat that happened during bring home the bacon. Rear Admiral Louis C. Tripoli of the US Navy, the father of Philip Tripoli of the class of 2018, was in town during this Bring Home the Bacon drive, and decided to visit us and see the work that the men of Chaminade were doing.