December 17, 2020

Throughout the month of November, alum Steven Rude ’83 helped generate support for a collection donation drive initiated by current Loyola Cubs. The three students, Aidan Donohoe ’21, Will Hotaling ’22 and Charlie Lundberg ’22, run a campus club called “Cubs for Vets” and sought out new pairs of clothing items and underwear to donate to local homeless/at-risk veterans. 

Steven is keeping with the family tradition of social impact. His uncle, Fr. Jim Rude, SJ ’50 † started the Christian Action Movement (CAM) at Loyola, mentoring future Jesuits such as Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ ’72 and establishing the model for what is now Loyola’s community service program.

The result of the collection drive was well over 3,000 items thanks to over 50 of Steven’s classmates from ’83 and many other contributors from the broader Loyola community pitching in on this call to action. Steven had this to say about this recent experience:

“Selfishly, I have been blessed with the pleasure of receiving so many personal and positive emails from my classmates. It is truly a beautiful thing, the ‘Loyola High School experience!’ Somehow we all leave with a desire to be Men for Others in some form. We might not know exactly how to act out as Men for Others, but it is deeply within us. My blessing to have Jim Rude be such a big part of my life has encouraged me to be a ‘facilitator’ of sorts to bring people together, to bring them back to Loyola, to bring them together in Christ. It is a blessing that I cherish and one that I do not take for granted.”

Since graduating from Loyola, Rude has continued to serve and advocate for others. He has led several successful donation operations for veterans and has partnered with the VA (Veterans Affairs) to provide service for veterans, in addition to serving as a psychologist with LAUSD for 30 years and working with children in foster care, psychiatric facilities and special education.