Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'

Many of our schools practice stewardship throughout the entire year. Below is listed a sampling of the many wonderful things our Catholic School children are doing.

Projects:

We have wishing wells that are placed in the hallway beside each classroom.  The children drop coins in, and once a week, the 8th Grade class collects the money, counts it, and gives the classrooms their total amounts collected.  Also, we had a Valentine bingo party that raised money. 

The students and staff have been busy sharing our abundance with those devastated by Hurricane Katrina in Biloxi , MS .  Blessed Virgin Mary School in Biloxi had 85 families who either lost their homes or homes and business’.  Our students, staff, parents, and friends generously donated new and gently used clothing for infants and children, along with toys and books.  We were able to send over 30 boxes to the area for use by their school families.  It is a tradition at our school to hold a buck-a-jean day once a month and monies collected are earmarked for specific charities.  Two such days were held for Katrina victims.  The totals collected for the two jeans days was a little over $1800.00 and monetary gifts were sent to the Diocese of Penniscola Katrina Fund, the Blessed Virgin Mary School, and Navy Seabee military families with newborns.  The children in our writing classes, grades 4, 5, & 6, have also sent special letters and cards to the students in those grades at BVM School .  One of our teacher’s husbands traveled to visit Sr. Mary Jo and brought back pictures of the devastation.  Seeing our school’s generosity, our parish recently collected $850.00 to be sent to Blessed Virgin Mary School. 

We elected to help out our first NCEA Distinguished Graduate - Dr. Richard Paat.  Dr. Paat has done over 23 medical missions to various countries and when he deals with the children in these countries he gives them a stuffed animal and a small dental kit. Our students are collecting money at their weekly liturgies to help one of our graduates help those less fortunate in our world.
  • Operation Rice Bowl
  • We are holding a 24-hour Food Fast We are having a canned food drive for Salvation Army
  • we will be collecting for agencies that provide food for the hungry.  we are collecting money to help support our Easter week Appalachia trip. 

we are collecting monetary donations.  To do this, the students are working in collaboration with the art teachers to produce one special art project per grade level.  These projects range from reproductions of famous works of art, to bead mosaics.  Beginning April 3rd through April 12th, the students will be able to purchase raffle tickets to win these art projects.  The parents will also be able to purchase tickets, or donate to the project.  On April 13th we will draw one raffle ticket per grade level to choose the student who will win the art project their grade level produced. 

For several years, we have adopted St. Michel Archangel Parish in Coq Chante in Haiti , providing a lunch program and teachers’ salaries.  This past weekend in church the Haiti committee made available a Starfish Collection box for donations during Lent.  Families are encouraged to “do without” something and give the money saved to the Starfish Collection.  This year’s collection will also go toward funding tailoring equipment for a vocational school which is just beginning.
  • Students will collect hygiene products, household cleaning supplies and gift cards to area grocery stores for the residents of Bethany House, a shelter for abused women and their children.
  • Students will voluntarily have their hair cut. The severed ponytails are donated to Locks of Love, a Florida-based organization that provides wigs to children who suffer from a medical loss of hair. Last year, 32 St. Ursula students donated 250 inches of hair. The haircuts, given by Camelot Salon, will be done between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. and the media is welcome to join us for this event. More than 30 girls are expected to participate.
  • Joining in the fight against hunger, students will conclude their Lenten Service Project with a drive to raise funds for Heifer International. This organization works to eradicate hunger and poverty by providing families with agricultural animals and supplies. Heifer International currently works with millions of families in 128 countries worldwide.

Our Lenten Project is called "Read to Feed" and is arranged through the Heifer International Organization who have provided all the materials that we are using.  We began the program about a week before Lent when we had a school assembly and showed a short movie that presented two children in Asia and Africa who received animals through Heifer International and their lives were changed significantly.  Our confirmation class, who had previously had some lessons in preparation, then presented information about the countries helped with the animals and the animals provided and generally made the students enthused.  The following day parent letters were sent home with permission slips and when these were returned, each student was given an envelope  to begin gathering signatures of people who would sponsor them to read books throughout Lent.  They were given a first book to get them started and a paper to list their books on and cards as prizes for every few books they read.  Confirmation students are assigned to each class and check every couple of mornings to see how many students have brought in slips and are ready for cards.  We will collect money during Holy Week and then each class will decide which animal they will buy from  Heifer to send to a poor family somewhere.

For our Lenten project, we are providing eight local families with an Easter meal, pantry  and toiletry items and Easter baskets.  Any monetary donations received will be converted to gift cards and added to this Easter treat. 

 The needy families are selected through Central City Ministries and each of our classrooms is sponsoring one of these eight families. 
  • The students will host a bake sale
  • The students will conduct a dime drop in the cafeteria during lunchtime.  Students and faculty will be able to try their luck at dropping a dime into a small glass placed in a jar of water.
  • Other Lenten projects include individual mite boxes for the Holy Childhood Association and a contest to see which classroom can raise the most money for Operation Starfish.

Each class in our school created a class art project and then held a raffle for each project.