During the summer before his senior year in high school, Dan
Malloy went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. During
this time, Malloy spent a couple of days in Santiago and 10 days
with local families in isolated mountain villages.

Malloy recalled one of the first nights spent with his Dominican
host. After showing Malloy all his belongings, the man told the
American teenage stranger, “What I have is yours.”

Four years have passed since that unforgettable encounter, but
Malloy has not forgotten the man’s generosity. In fact, many of his
friends note that Malloy has adopted a similar philosophy, offering
time, energy and enthusiasm to better both Saint Louis University
and the St. Louis community at large.

Having participated in the Campus Ministry Food Drive since he
was a freshman, Malloy is in his second year as one of the
project’s coordinators.

“I thought it was a good way to do as much as I could for the
St. Louis community,” he said.

Organizing the food drive, the largest student-run,
student-sponsored service project on campus, is no small endeavor.
Last year, over $20,000 was raised for local, national and
international charities and more than a ton of food was collected
and given to organizations who help the hungry in St. Louis.

The preparation for the project began this summer, and as the
five coordinators arrived back at school this fall, the event
started becoming a reality. Malloy’s extensive list of duties
includes event planning, coordination between student groups,
emailing and fundraising.

Kevin Born, Griesedeick Complex campus minister and staff
coordinator for the food drive, says that Malloy’s three-year
experience with the project has proved to be an invaluable
asset.

“I really feel like there’s no one that I would rather be
working with on the food drive than Dan,” Born said.

This year Malloy brought the “Stache Bash” to SLU, a two-week
period in which male members of the SLU community pledged not to
shave in return for financial support from students, faculty and
staff. All money raised from SLU’s scruffy men goes directly to the
food drive.

“Dan has a sense of how to reach out to students on this campus
and more specifically, how to connect with them,” Born said.

Campus Ministry work-study student Dan Nemes echoes Born’s
sentiments.

“Dan always has a really positive attitude and is more than
willing to joke around,” he said.

Aside from coordinating the food drive, Malloy also serves as a
member of Micah House, a program geared toward bringing social
justice in communal living situations. In order to achieve this
goal, individuals who participate in the program take classes and
work on service projects together.

At the end of November, after Malloy wraps up with the food
drive, his next goal is to get the student organization JUSTICE off
the ground and running or incorporated into other student
organizations.

“As young people with all the resources around us, we have an
incredible potential to change the SLU community for the better,”
Malloy said.

Malloy is scheduled to graduate in May with a triple major in
sociology, Spanish and international studies. He is considering
several post-graduation options, including taking a couple of years
off to work outside the country, teaching or attending law
school.

“Whatever I end up doing, I know that I will find work that
involves answering this call about men and women for others,” he
said.