Iona College Donates 150 Thanksgiving Baskets to Families in Need
Iona College’s annual Thanksgiving basket collection provided 150 families with all the ingredients needed for a delicious holiday feast.
Students, faculty and staff collected food items and packed everything into beautifully decorated baskets – a campus tradition that began in the early 2000s. Coming together for a special ceremony on November 22, the baskets were first blessed and then carried into vehicles for delivery across Westchester and the Bronx.
“Looking around the room and what Iona has been able to do to help our community is a sign of wholeness within our campus,” said President Seamus Carey, Ph.D. “I want to thank the Office of Mission & Ministry and all the students, faculty and staff who have been involved with this effort. You really make us proud.”
This year, the distribution was conducted in partnership with four organizations: HOPE Community Services in New Rochelle; Abraham House in the Bronx; Greyston Foundation in Yonkers; and the Westchester Community Opportunity Program.
“To the Iona College community I want to say, thank you for your donations and kind support once again this year,” said Dr. Penny Jennings, vice president of strategic programs at Greyston, who spoke at the event. “The individuals we serve are living below the poverty line, so these donations of Thanksgiving baskets are very deeply appreciated.”
Dr. Penny Jennings, vice president of strategic programs at Greyston, and President Carey.
United in the spirit of Blessed Edmund Rice, founder of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, the Iona community each year carries forward the mission of service and compassion by collecting food items for those in need during the holidays. Over the past six years, Iona has donated approximately 800 Thanksgiving baskets.
Special thanks to this year’s organizers, including Laura Fairchild, assistant director of Retreats & Spirituality; Fr. Gerard Mulvey, Chaplain and OMM interim director; Br. Jason M. Ford, CFC, ’01, assistant director for Service and Immersion; and Annika Ziels ’24.
“Our annual Thanksgiving basket drive has been a tradition at Iona long before I got here, and it will be a tradition long after I graduate. That is all thanks to our incredible community, who is so willing to stand in solidarity with those who are in need of extra love and care this holiday season,” said Ziels, a campus minister who helped to organize the drive for the second year in a row. “We all did this together, and it is moments like these where I am so proud to attend Iona University.”
Fr. Mulvey blessed the baskets before they were distributed.
United in the spirit of Blessed Edmund Rice, founder of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, the Iona community each year carries forward the mission of service and compassion by collecting food items for those in need during the holidays. Over the past six years, Iona has donated approximately 800 Thanksgiving baskets.
Special thanks to this year’s organizers, including Laura Fairchild, assistant director of Retreats & Spirituality; Fr. Gerard Mulvey, Chaplain and OMM interim director; Br. Jason M. Ford, CFC, ’01, assistant director for Service and Immersion; and Annika Ziels ’24.
“Our annual Thanksgiving basket drive has been a tradition at Iona long before I got here, and it will be a tradition long after I graduate. That is all thanks to our incredible community, who is so willing to stand in solidarity with those who are in need of extra love and care this holiday season,” said Ziels, a campus minister who helped to organize the drive for the second year in a row. “We all did this together, and it is moments like these where I am so proud to attend Iona University.”
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona is widely recognized in prestigious rankings, including The Princeton Review’s 2025 national list of “The Best 390 Colleges” and The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse’s “2024 Best Colleges in America,” which ranked Iona at #66 in the nation overall and #8 in the nation among Catholic schools. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just six percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2023.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian. Connecting to its Irish heritage, the University also recently announced it is expanding abroad with a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.