FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 24, 2006

10^th Annual Hunger Fest

Archbishop Curley Notre Dame High School students fast and raise funds to show solidarity with the poor.

Miami, FL - Whoever said that our youth today lack commitment, idealism or willingness to sacrifice for others did not visit Archbishop Curley Notre Dame (ACND) High School on the weekend of the annual 27 hour Hunger Fest. Celebrating its tenth year, the event involves sixty-five students, as well as the Christian Brothers, the faculty and other members of the ACND community. They participate in a 27 hour fast on March 3 and 4 to signify their solidarity with the poor in our city and the world.

From Friday afternoon to Saturday evening, all participants will refrain from food while engaging in individual and community prayer, consciousness raising activities and direct service for the poor.

One of the planned events is a student run car wash on March 3^rd between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m. and March 4^th between 9:00 and 2:00 p.m. at the 4949 NE 2^nd Avenue campus. All proceeds will be donated to the poor of Haiti and Peru.

The students will also be preparing over 1,000 packaged lunches on Saturday to be donated to Camillus House in Miami.

The Hunger Fest was created by ACND sophomore Rebecca Stead in 1996. Rebecca had been holding the event in her house to commemorate the beginning of Lent in the Catholic Church and chose to extend an invitation to the entire school community. The response was extraordinary. Since then ACND students have celebrated the Hunger Fest with incredible enthusiasm. While over a hundred students apply on a yearly basis, only sixty-five are chosen to attend.

The students’ reasons for participating are diverse. “I love being surrounded by peers who share the same compassion,” said one of last year’s participants. Unlike Bono or Michael and Melinda Gates, the students will not receive public recognition but still feel they can make a difference. “It is comforting” a student wrote, “that we as a school community are making a positive push to help those less fortunate than us.”

Fasting has been recognized as a method of witnessing that each person has a special dignity that comes from God. In the Judeo-Christian and Muslim traditions, among others, abstinence from food and all liquids except water is an act of penance for personal and societal consumerism, greed and injustice. When reflecting on the experience one of last years participants said, “I wanted to challenge myself and suffer a little bit for those who live in perpetual hunger. It was a great spiritual experience.”

Founded in 1953 as Notre Dame Academy and Archbishop Curley High School, the institutions took on a significant role in defining diversity as a value within the educational community of the City and the State. The first secondary school in Florida to teach black and white students together later welcomed the Pedro Pan Scholars and more recently the Opportunity Scholars. In 1980 the two entities joined on the 4949 NE 2^nd Avenue Campus as a co-educational, Catholic, college preparatory school for grades 9 to 12 in the heart of Miami on the edge of the Art and Design District.

The school is now considering candidates for 9^th and 10^th grade.  For information, contact the office of admissions at 305.751.8367 ext 66.

To make a contribution to the missions or for more information on the Hunger Fest, please contact Katherine Doble at (305) 751-8367 ext. 22 or news@acnd.net or Hunger Fest Coordinator, Br. John J. Corcoran, CFC at (305) 751-8367 ext. 34 or jcorcoran@acnd.net.