In 1992, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the University of Notre Dame, then-president Rev. Edward “Monk” Malloy, C.S.C., ’63, ’67 M.A., ’69 M.A. presented a simple, yet powerful challenge to each Notre Dame club around the world: to give back to its community in a meaningful way as a gift in honor of the University.
On Staten Island, that invitation sparked what would become a 35-year tradition of service.
At the time, the Notre Dame Club of Staten Island—a relatively young club that had parted from the New York City club just two years earlier—began brainstorming ideas. The club’s leaders settled on a simple food drive and first considered collecting cans at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
“We would have received the wrong cans,” joked Joe Delaney, former president of the club.
Instead, they partnered with six local schools in the borough—five Catholic and one public—to run a two-week collection at the end of April. When the drive concluded, they had gathered 5,000 food items, distributing the donations to three local organizations.
“We patted ourselves on the back and thought, ‘That was a nice gift to our community,’” Delaney reflected. “And we thought that would have been it.”
But it wasn’t.
Representatives from Catholic Charities, one of the recipients of the donations, revealed the challenge food pantries face: while donations surge during Thanksgiving and Christmas, they often face empty shelves by late winter and early spring. The timing of this small, one-time drive had filled a critical—and largely overlooked—gap.
The club realized the importance of a spring food drive. It was not only helpful, but essential.
So they did it again, and again. Thirty-five years later, what became known as the Bread of Life Food Drive (BOLD) has grown into one of the borough’s largest volunteer-led service efforts. In March 2026, 131 public, private, and Jewish Community Center (JCC) after-school programs participated, collecting close to 80,000 food items.
“It has just mushroomed, and mushroomed,” current club president Tom Ventrudo said.
What makes BOLD remarkable is not only the initiative’s scale, but also how the project is sustained.
Rather than becoming a burden, the effort became a shared mission. “There are members of our club who have been with us all 35 years,” Delaney, who became the longtime director of the Bread of Life Food Drive, said. “Everyone has contributed a skill or a talent to conducting this food drive.” Teachers, union workers, parents, and students are just some leaders who contribute annually.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic tested that spirit, threatening to bring operations to a complete stop. The club, however, refused to allow it. Pivoting quickly, they partnered with YouGiveGoods on Facebook and raised $110,000. Instead of collecting non-perishables, they purchased grocery store gift cards and distributed the cards amongst the receiving organizations relative to the amount of food they had received from BOLD the previous year to meet appropriate demand.
“We couldn’t let COVID stop this, especially during the high demand,” Ventrudo stressed. “We figured out a way. It was a testimony to this club and its commitment.”
That commitment is rooted in something deeper than alumni ties.
Unlike many Notre Dame clubs, Staten Island’s membership is not built primarily of graduates of the University. It is, at its core, a club of friends—“subway alumni”—passionate about the University’s mission of service and camaraderie. That openness has defined the club’s leadership as well. From 1996 to 2006, Delaney became the first non-alumnus to lead a Notre Dame club as president. Ventrudo, the parent of a son who earned a graduate degree from Notre Dame, became involved in the Staten Island club in 1992 as a parent and, since 2017, has served as another non-alumnus president.
“‘You don’t have to be an alum to be involved,’ I told [Ventrudo]” Delaney shared. “And now he does a great job at getting the current parents of students involved, [too].”
Regular meetings are lively and reflect the full fabric of Staten Island—people from different professions, backgrounds, and neighborhoods. “We’re fortunate,” Delaney says. “We are Staten Island.
“There’s never a feeling of ‘Well, you didn’t really go to Notre Dame,’” he added. “We’re extending the mission of the University.”
That mission has attracted unlikely partners over the years. Through local connections, labor unions—including electricians from the IBEW Local 3—joined the BOLD effort, providing trucks, manpower, and logistical support. The goal, as one organizer put it, was to make organized labor synonymous with charitable impact, just like major corporations.
BOLD’s influence has even extended beyond Staten Island. After Delaney met with the late former Fighting Irish football coach Lou Holtz in 2013, the coach’s own foundation, Holtz’s Heroes, had launched 34 similar food drives in 11 states, collectively gathering over 200,000 items by the following spring. Delaney, Ventrudo, and the club continue to recognize Holtz’s legacy and his commitment to tackling food insecurity. “With every drive, Coach always made an effort to say, ‘Stamped and made in Staten Island.’”
Locally, the impact remains profound. Twenty-five area food pantries, including several smaller organizations, rely on BOLD to stay open through the spring. Without it, some would be forced to close their doors during a time of growing need.
For some of the volunteers, the line between giving and receiving is not always clear.
“[BOLD is] inspiring because I dare say that much of the food that is delivered to pantries by our student volunteers probably gets recycled right back to their houses,” Delaney reveals.
In response, the club has expanded its role—not just collecting food, but donations to recipient organizations. Schools now organize additional service projects in partnership with the club, from “Souper Bowl” drives to summer care packages. Some tailor collections to specific needs, like baby food, ensuring that donations match demand.
“Schools call us and ask which organizations need their collections most,” Ventrudo said. “We create a culture of giving.”
In addition to their keystone drive, each year, the club hosts the Eve of Solemn Remembrance, Staten Island’s signature Catholic observance of the September 11 attacks. High school students read the names of those who perished and those who have since passed from 9/11-related illnesses, connecting a new generation to memory, service, and faith.
Thirty-five years later, what began in 1992 as a one-time “gift” has become a living expression of Notre Dame’s mission, carried forward not just by alumni, but by a community of friends bound “in Notre Dame.”
Any Notre Dame clubs interested in becoming involved with the National Notre Dame Holtz’s Heroes Bread of Life Food Drive should contact Joe Delaney at jodelaney@deloitteretired.com
