St. Patrick School Students Participate in Day of Giving

Each fall, St. Patrick students have participated in a service day which has continued to evolve over the years. This year was no exception, with all kinds of new and exciting ideas and projects to be completed by all our students.

The day started with Big Rocks meeting with their Little Rocks and processing to the gym together. Each student brought canned or boxed food items that were donated to the Portland Community Food Bank and the Congregational Church Food Bank.

Once students arrived in the gym, we kicked off the day with prayer. This was followed by directions and instructions for the projects that would be completed. Students were then sent to the appropriate classrooms to work on their projects which included the following:

• Big Rocks assisted Little Rocks in writing a letter to Santa. This is a program where Macy’s donates one dollar to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for each letter sent to Santa. Macy’s started this in 2008 and will donate up to a million dollars to Make-A-Wish each year.

• Students made baby hats, baby blankets and bigger blankets that will be donated to a variety of charitable organizations that serve people who are in need.

• For the fourth year in a row, St. Pat’s students participated in the Christmas Shoebox Project. Students brought in shoeboxes and wrapped them with wrapping paper. They provide essential items such as hygiene products and winter wear and fun items such as toys and other goodies.

• Our chapter of the National Honor Society hosted a Red Cross Blood Drive in the Parish Hall.

After all the volunteer activities were completed, the items to be donated were brought to the school gymnasium where all our students assembled. We prayed for the projects that were completed and asked God to bless these items and all who would benefit from them.

Thank you to the following for their generosity in helping the Day of Giving be a complete success:

• To our Day of Giving Committee for their hard work in planning these activities.

• A special thank you to junior Amy Shaw who did a pop can drive to raise money for essential items for the shoe boxes.

• Parents and students for their generosity in the donation of canned and boxed food as well as supplies for making hats and blankets.

• To anyone who donated money to our Day of Giving. Any money that was donated to the Day of Giving that was above and beyond our budgeted need was donated to Positive Solutions Informed Choices (PSIC).

• To any businesses that made donations of money or supplies to our Day of Giving.

Our 2019 Day of Giving was a huge success. We appreciate the hard work and generosity of our students, school families and our community at large. What a great way for St. Patrick School to prepare for the beginning of the Advent Season.

Randy Hodge is the High School Principal at St. Patrick School.