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December
11, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 22Oakland,
CA
St. Bernard
school
receives early Christmas blessings
It’s
not Christmas yet, but the faculty and students at St. Bernard School
in Oakland are already counting their blessings. A few weeks ago, a bounty
of gifts descended upon them, compliments of St. Felicitas School and
parish in San Leandro.
Think in terms of goodies such as play dough, felt tip markers, rainy
day games, jump ropes and rubber balls, copy paper, staplers, paper clips,
masking tape, ball point pens, white board markers and erasers –
necessities which are taken for granted in many schools, but which are
in short supply at St. Bernard’s.
Michelle Thompson, kindergarten teacher and moderator of the St. Felicitas
student council, spearheaded the project. Borrowing her inspiration from
Make a Difference Day, the nation’s largest day of volunteering
celebrated each October, Thompson called upon the generosity of students
in the school, CCD classes, CYO, as well as parishioners to donate the
much needed items to their sister school, which had made a “wish
list.”
The gifts arrived in a convoy of cars and vans lead by St. Felicitas principal
Gerald Marchi. St. Bernard’s 125 students greeted the procession
with posters and banners welcoming their suburban friends. Besides the
supplies, St. Felicitas also sent a cash gift, five percent of the parish
collection for one Sunday, said Thompson.
“We are just delighted,” said Louise Lutz, St. Bernard’s
principal.
This is the fifth year St. Felicitas has participated in Make a Difference
Day, said Thompson. The student council chooses a different endeavor annually
to help make a difference in people’s lives.
Last year, the school and parish participated in “Get on the Bus”
Day, a project which transports children to California prisons to visit
their mothers. St. Felicitas supplied back packs filled with snack foods,
games, and toys to help make the tedious seven-to-nine-hour journey each
way a little more comfortable for the kids.
