SophiaReinhardt

Since 1967, Operation Others has worked to bring food donations to those in need. Students in the Omaha Catholic high schools work together to bring in items and help prepare for the big delivery day.

Operation Others is a great way for students to get involved with their community. According to a Network student survey, 43.3% of students who answered the survey say they have participated in an Operation Others activity and 45.8% intend to in the future. 

Senior Maggie McGill, core team member, is passionate about getting involved in Operation Others. “I genuinely can’t stress [enough] how important Operation Others is,” McGill said. Operation Others is not something a single person could run and it takes volunteers from the student body to be able to make it happen. “It takes a village,” McGill said.

This past year, Operation Others made history with the amount of deliveries they were able to make. “Last year we served over 1,400 houses,” McGill said. However, the days leading up to this delivery day are busy. 

“Everyone comes to Prep after finals to help set up,” McGill said. All packing and pickup for deliveries takes place at Creighton Prep. “The first day is packing produce and boxed foods,” she said, and all boxed foods came from the different food drives that each high school hosted. 

This includes peanut butter, pasta, canned vegetables, mashed potato packets and canned soup. Families also receive a turkey. Operation Others hosts a turkey drive where people can donate turkeys directly to the cause. “The next day, we organize more food and start prepping bags for pick up,” McGill said. 

After days of preparation, packing day is the final step before the big delivery day. “Packing day is where we pack all of our delivery bags,” McGill said. “This year, we packed about 2,000 bags.” This whole process is set up like a factory line. A person with a bag will walk to each station to get the items needed. The bags are then ready to go the next day for delivery day. From the student survey, 44.8% of students said they attended packing days.

Delivery day is when volunteers drive the packed food items to the families. It starts at 8 a.m. with a Mass, and the deliveries start at about 9 a.m. 

This is the most important day for Operation Others. From the student survey, 41.4% of students said they participated in delivery day. The more people that can come to this event, the more successful it is.

Operation Others relies on the help of students and volunteers to be able to continue doing the work it does. “You can contribute to Operation Others in so many ways,” McGill said. “The three most important things are the peanut butter and jelly drive, bringing in turkeys and delivery day.” The number of food items they get determines how many people they can serve. 

“I would say if you’re on the fence about Operation Others, you should join,” McGill said. “It’s such a great way to serve your community.”

Junior Martha Chapman, core team member, also expresses the importance of Operation Others. “These deliveries are vital to the Omaha community,” Chapman said. “The holidays are a challenging time for many people, so helping them is essential to caring for the community.”

Although it may seem like delivery week comes easily, preparations begin all the way back in September to ensure delivery week runs as smoothly as possible. “We have meetings every week of the fall semester to plan and raise money,” Chapman said. “We reach out to schools and parishes and we take calls for the families that we deliver to.”

The core team does a lot of work during this time and into delivery week, from making sure that every bag is filled correctly, to helping pack bags into cars and getting directions for the drivers. 

“We want to ensure that each family gets properly balanced and nutritional meals,” Chapman said. 

After delivery day, the core team evaluates what items did not get sent out. “We bring perishable items such as turkeys and milk to food pantries in Omaha,” Chapman said. Whether the food gets delivered or not, it will not go to waste and will benefit someone who needs it.

Aside from delivery day and packing week, there are plenty of other ways to get involved in Operation Others. 

“People can come to the introduction meeting in September,” Chapman said. This meeting tells people about the upcoming events and what they can do to help. Another large event is the trick-or-treat for cans.

 “People go around the neighborhood near Prep and ask for canned goods,” Chapman said. These canned goods will go to those in need. There’s also an Operation Others Christmas party, pancake breakfast and peanut butter and jelly drive at Marian.

If you are interested in being on the Operation Others core team, applications are sent out in the spring to sophomores and juniors. The current core team and theology teacher, Mr. Mark Koesters, will choose two sophomores and one junior to be on the core team for the next school year.