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QUINCY, IL -- The Quincy Notre Dame Cheer team recently began a community service project to benefit the Quincy Catholic Charities Food Pantry.

Gold T-shirts will be given to all QND students, staff, and Catholic grade school 7th & 8th graders in exchange for a donation of at least 5 canned or nonperishable food items. All of these food items will be donated to the QCC food pantry in preparation for the upcoming holidays.

Students will be encouraged to wear the gold tee shirts at basketball games and other sporting events. The goal of the QND Cheer team is to "Paint the Pit Gold." Parents and adults can also purchase the T-shirts by contacting Quincy Notre Dame.

The cheer team hung posters throughout the halls of QND and will do radio promos in support of this venture to get students and the community involved.

"I am humbled by the creativeness and initiative of Tracy Grant and the QND Cheer team with this undertaking. They will help so many people in our community have nutritious meals throughout the holiday season," said Kurt Stuckman, QCC Area Director.

"There are so many people that are less fortunate than the members of the QND Cheerleading family. Everyone needs that extra help at some point in their lives and we want to be a part of that extra help. I want my girls to be involved in something bigger than just cheering at games. The community and the school are always so supportive of our squad and we want to give back to them. After the girls are long graduated from QND I want them to remember how they were a part of this project and how they carried out the true spirit of "Raider Pride", said Tracy Grant QND Cheer Coach.

The QCC food pantry has experienced a 211% increase in the number of people seeking food assistance over the past here years. Through September 2007, QCC has served over 1,873 families and 4,150 individuals this calendar year.

Quincy Catholic Charities provides professional, community-based services to residents in Adams, Brown and Pike counties. The agency operates nationally-accredited programs to every segment of the population without regard to age, race, income, gender or religion.

Annually, the office serves thousands of individuals in need through adoption, crisis assistance, professional counseling solutions, supportive pregnancy services, intact family services, food pantry, prescription assistance, and referral services. It is a member of Catholic Charities USA, the largest independent network of social service providers in the United States.

For more information, call (217) 222-0958 or access the agency's website at www.cc.dio.org.