Operation Others provides food, affirms the God-given dignity of every person

In November of 2022, Sarah Kraft was on unpaid maternity leave from her job as a hairdresser. With no money coming in, the single mother of a newborn and a 10-year-old daughter knew buying Christmas gifts was out of the question.

“Obviously, kids go without gifts and stuff all of the time, but my older daughter was 10 at the time and had no idea what that would have been like,” Kraft said.

Kraft signed up for Catholic Charities of Omaha’s Adopt-A-Family program to ensure her daughter had something to unwrap Christmas morning. The program provides Christmas gifts to those who can’t afford them. People can make requests for items that are put on wish lists. Those lists are distributed to local Catholic parishes and businesses who purchase items on the lists, wrap them and bring them to Catholic Charities for distribution in December.

Catholic Charities also works with Operation Others, which arranges for food to be delivered to the homes of those in need. Recipients receive a turkey and other items to prepare a Christmas meal.

When Kraft was asked if she was interested, she responded, “Absolutely!”

Sarah Kraft and daughter, Evelyn. COURTESY PHOTO

Operation Others was established at Creighton Prep in 1967 to provide food for needy families at Christmas and shine a light on the problem of food insecurity. It has grown to eight schools, with Roncalli Catholic High School, Gross Catholic High School, Skutt Catholic High School, Marian High School, Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, Mercy Catholic High School, and Mount Michael Benedictine now participating.

Food is loaded into cars on delivery day. COURTESY PHOTO

Flyers at Catholic Charities pantries and word-of-mouth referrals are some ways the word gets out about Operation Others. In November, a call-in day is held at Creighton Prep, where core team members and others man the phones as people call in to request that food be delivered to their homes.

Thanks to the kind of strangers, what Kraft had worried would be a bleak Christmas turned out to be anything but bleak. Although she only needed help for one year, Kraft continues to marvel that high school students would spend such a busy time of year working to ensure that people do not go hungry.

“It’s amazing that they put so much time into helping others,” she said. “They are part of something that is really helping people in a time of need.”

Sarah Kraft’s daughter, Layla, holding her sister Evelyn. COURTESY PHOTO

The time and effort that goes into collecting, packing and delivering food to all areas of the city is a tremendous undertaking that students prepare for months in advance. In addition, a smaller group of approximately five to seven students from each participating school – the core team – meets weekly during the first semester to plan fundraisers, food drives and other events to support the program.

All this hard work culminates on the delivery day, the Saturday before Christmas. This is the day when high school students – past and present – individuals and families line up in their cars to receive bags of food and a list of addresses of where to deliver them.

Cars line up at Creighton Prep to pick up bags of food on delivery day last December. COURTESY PHOTO

Throughout delivery day, volunteers drive to neighborhoods they have never visited. Others find themselves in areas where they couldn’t imagine families were struggling to make ends meet.

While Operation Others focuses on those in need, the impact on those who donate, collect and deliver food is equally significant – and stands the test of time. Years later, lessons taught as part of Operation Others are still remembered.

Julie Wawers, a 2008 Skutt Catholic graduate, still remembers her involvement in Operation Others. She attributes her participation in it to helping take her out of her “West Omaha bubble to see many different parts of Omaha. It also showed me that poverty can look a lot of different ways, and we all have it within ourselves to help others who are suffering.”

Julie Wawers organizes food for Operation Others while a student at Skutt Catholic. COURTESY PHOTO

Many who participated in Operation Others in high school decades ago continue to participate. They also are responsible for introducing a whole new generation to the program.

Brad Kwiatek was involved in Operation Others when he attended Creighton Prep in the early 1990s. Like so many, Kwiatek continues to participate. Brad’s wife, Katie, was pregnant with their first child, CeCe, on a delivery day years ago. Today, CeCe is a core team member.

The Kwiatek family. From left: Ruby, Katie, Sam, Cece and Brad. COURTESY PHOTO

“Dropping off food at people’s houses is so eye-opening to how I live,” CeCe, a senior at Duchesne said. “These people are so grateful for these boxes of food so they are able to have a nice Christmas meal. They always open their doors with an open heart and huge smiles on their faces. Every single person says thank you to us multiple times and makes sure it is known that we are a blessing and they are so grateful for us. These interactions have shaped how I want to live my life and treat others.”

The Kwiateks, along with CeCe, their younger daughter Ruby, a freshman at Duchesne Academy, and son Sam, a seventh grader at St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic School in Omaha, have a family tradition of spending every Saturday before Christmas delivering food for Operation Others. They have lots of memories of those days.

The Kwiatek children have been making deliveries for Operation Others with their parents their entire lives. From Left: Sam, 3, CeCe, 8, and Ruby, 3. COURTESY PHOTO

“One year Operation Others was at a warehouse, and it was so windy out that they could only have one side open, and we waited over two hours in line to get our car loaded with food,” Kwiatek said. “Two years ago, we delivered to a really sweet elderly couple and the woman told Ruby to wait and went back in the house. She tried to give Ruby money to buy something for herself for Christmas, but we finally convinced her to save it for her grandchildren.”

Although a Christmas meal might not solve world hunger, helping others in need reminds people of the importance of caring for others, especially those in their own city.

“It can be an eye-opening experience for kids to see how differently people in their community live and how grateful they should be for the blessings in their own lives,” Kwiatek said. “It is a great way to spend the weekend before Christmas and helps my children remember what is truly important.”

Jack Van Moorleghem, a senior at Creighton Prep and a core team member, said Operation Others has had a profound impact on his life and made him realize the importance of not only providing necessities to those in need but being present with them.

Creighton Prep seniors, from left, Jack Van Moorleghem, Colin Schneider and Joshua Mammen, on Operation Others delivery day last year. COURTESY PHOTO

Van Moorleghem recalls a few years ago when he and friends delivered food to “a small run-down bungalow in North Omaha” and an elderly African American man stepped out to greet them.

“He didn’t say many words, but he didn’t have to,” Van Moorleghem said. “We understood his gratefulness from his smile and how he welcomed us into his house to set the food bags down on his kitchen table.”

There are people all over the city and the country who face hunger, Van Moorleghem said, “but until you see them face to face, they are merely a number in a statistic. This is a way in which we can affirm their God-given dignity.”

Operations Others is still accepting monetary donations for turkeys, apples, oranges and milk for families. Those interested in donating can Venmo @operationothers or send a check to Operation Others c/o Creighton Prep, 7400 Western Ave., Omaha, NE 68114.