Holy Trinity students raise $3G for the hungry

Students at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School in Hicksville earlier this month raised $3,000 to feed the hungry by donating their lunch money.

The effort, proposed by the school chaplain, Father Joseph Fitzgerald, was an expansion of the religion department’s year-round “Hunger Project,” which benefits two parish outreach programs.

The money -- an average of $5 per student -- was raised on April 3 over four lunch periods between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The initiative coincided with Holy Week, the last week of Lent before Easter.

In return for the donations, the school provided the students with a free lunch of soup, half a sandwich and water.

“The project is to reach out to the poor and understand their plight,” said Sue Coffey, 57, a campus minister and religion teacher at the school.

The funds went to outreach programs at Our Lady of Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch and Our Lady of Loretto in Hempstead.

The school’s religion department later delivered food to the Wyandanch parish outreach program.