Rakes Report Christmas Giving 2023

For the eighth time, we are looking to raise money for the Center for the Homeless in South Bend. The Center does tremendous work in a variety of ways for the community — read more about them here if you're not familiar — and after surviving another season of Notre Dame football it's nice to take control and do some Good for folks who could use a hand.

Since we've started doing this, the Notre Dame football program has won us a lot of games. Is there any karmic causation or is it simply coincidence? Who can say, but it seems like a bad idea to tempt fate and not run this back. This year we again have Christmas Giving gear provided by Bridget Reynolds available here. Any proceeds from purchases made at the Report store in December — Christmas Giving designs or otherwise — will go to the CFH as well.

Please consider sharing this with your friends, family and alumni groups. If you have any questions, please reach out via the provided contact link. For more on the CFH, executive director Steve Camilleri provided this explainer of what his group does in the community:

The Center's mission is to help break the cycle of homelessness, and it's been such a gift to see people transform their lives and get back on their feet. Like a university, guests that arrive at CFH focus on their "major," and take classes, programming, and seek the help they need in the area they need it most. As they achieve success in that area, they wrap around other opportunities, much like elective courses, that can be for personal edification, enjoyment or education. All in all, CFH tries to meet the needs of everyone that walks through her doors with dignity and respect. We have found that each guest is a gift and has so much to give, and when you hold a high expectation of them, they rise to the occasion!

Our goal this year was $2321, or one dollar for every career rushing yard for Audric Estime. Since we hit that and yardage allowed by Al Golden's defense, we're making it $7,115, or the total points scored by Jackie Young in high school, college and the WNBA.

Thank you and Go Irish.