It's a win-win for hungry people: Eat a tenderloin on Thursday and help pay a local student's lunch debt. The rules of the St. Joseph School District's Tenderloin Challenge are simple.
Visit one of 15 participating restaurants for the local favorite sandwich on any Thursday in October and $1 from your meal goes to help eliminate school lunch debt for kids in the St. Joseph School District. The tradition originated from the Central High School class of 1976 as a way to give back to the community.
“Their funds, they gave them all that year. So they asked us if we would be interested in carrying on this tradition,” said Julie Cobb, executive director of the St. Joseph School District Foundation.
With St. Joseph being the "tenderloin capital of the U.S.
" and National School Cafeteria Week being the second week in October, Cobb says it was a natural fit. “It's very simple. We partner with most of the original restaurants in town,” Cobb said.
At the end of the month, the SJSD Foundation will collect money from all participating restaurants and announce a total. Cobb said Central’s class of 1976 started the tradition because many of them knew what it was like to struggle financially when they were kids. “It just really pulled on their heartstrings and resonated with them,” she said.
Whitney Loehnig, co-owner of Adams Bar and Grill, said they’ve been a part of the challenge since its inception. “Immediately it was like, 'I don't need a lot of answers. We are on boar.