Iona Contributes to One Million Acts of Good
More than 50 students, faculty and staff members came together to participate in The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Cheerios™ One Million Acts of Good Thursday morning at Iona College.
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - More than 50 students, faculty and staff members came together to participate in The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Cheerios™ One Million Acts of Good Thursday morning at Iona University. The national campaign calls on people to spread kindness and fill the world with good.
Iona University's dining partner, Chartwells Higher Education, along with MATTER and General Mills partnered to encourage students at its campuses to improve the health of their communities. MATTER is a Minnesota-based global nonprofit with a mission to move people forward by giving them a chance at a healthier life.
The Iona community packed 200 MATTERboxes with snack packs including General Mills items such as Whole Grain Cheerios™ and Nature Valley Bars, along with other healthy food items. Each snack pack included a YouMATTER hand-written note of encouragement, which offered a way that those packing to share an inspirational message with the recipients.
The MATTERboxes have been distributed locally to Abraham House in the Bronx and Hope Community Services in New Rochelle.
"Iona University is committed to community service and this is a great initiative to serve the hungry," said Carl Procario-Foley, Ph.D., director of Mission & Ministry. "Hope Community Services and Abraham House are two long term partners of the College that we're happy to be able to assist with the help of One Million Acts of Good."
"We're grateful to the Ellen Show, Chartwells and all of the partners to give us at Iona University the opportunity to make a difference," said freshman Kati Paavola, a student-athlete on the women's lacrosse team.
Chartwells has grown its participation from 50 campuses in 2018 to 100 campuses in 2019 and will distribute over 20,000 MATTERbox packages.
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.