Students at Bishop Loughlin HS are in a class by themselves when it comes to setting records.
The industrious bunch at the Fort Greene school received an A-plus from their local soup kitchen — plus earned themselves the moniker of good Samaritans — for collecting an incredible 4,525 cans of food during a holiday drive.
It took just two weeks for youngsters in the school’s eight academic houses to amass the amazing number — an easy enough feat for the competitive lot who regularly lock friendly horns over contests, said Melissa Altman, director of Campus Ministry for the high school, which is on Clermont Avenue between Greene and Lafayette avenues.
“At one point, there were four houses jockeying for first place,” she chuckled.
Top honors, though, went to the Bonillia House, whose students coughed up 889 cans. The Raphael House came in a close second with 835 containers of non-perishable nosh.
The full extent of the bounty, said Altman, was unknown until all the canned goods — arranged on top of the stage like a kaleidoscope and hidden behind a curtain — were unveiled at a special assembly. When the curtain swung open, the students couldn’t believe their eyes — or can their excitement, quipped Altman.
“They were genuinely thrilled!”
Students transported the haul on hand trucks to the soup kitchen at Queen of All Saints Church on Vanderbilt Avenue at Lafayette Avenue, where even seasoned pantry workers were stunned at their awesome alms
“They were overjoyed and said that our efforts would help with their Thanksgiving baskets and donations going into December,” said Altman.
