Abstract
What began as a Christmas food drive has become an annual holiday outreach at Creighton University, providing help to those in need from Thanksgiving to New Year. The Holiday Spirit Project has its roots in the University’s annual Christmas food drive -a grassroots effort that began around 1985. Through this effort, employees donated food for local pantries during the University’s annual Christmas luncheon. Along with monetary donations, it’s a practice that continues today. In 2011, Creighton employees donated more than $1,100 and 325 food items during the luncheon in support of the Siena/Francis House homeless shelter. While holiday outreach is nothing new at Creighton, in 1990, Creighton President Michael G. Morrison, S.J., asked Creighton employees to commemorate 450 years of Jesuit education worldwide by helping 450 needy individuals in the Omaha metro area. That total was more than doubled, as 31 departments provided assistance to 1,000 needy individuals.