St. Mary’s participated in St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy Family to Family Program this Christmas season. Under the leadership of the religion department, each class – freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors – “adopted” a family to buy Christmas gifts for to make their Christmases a little merrier.
St. Mary’s students and families collected thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts throughout the month of December for 23 family members, ranging from coats and grocery store gift cards for the adults, to toys and Star Wars clothes for the children, and everything in between.
Deacon Robb has a few connections to St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy and knew the program would be a perfect fit to help students remember the reason for the season: “The response has just been tremendous. It is a true blessing for these families who are going through a difficult time, and having an opportunity to help children seemed to especially resonate with our students,” Ciezki said. Religion department chairperson, Cindy Powers, was inspired by her students’ responses: “Their enthusiasm and genuine desire to help these families has truly been an inspiration to me,” she said. “Prayers have been answered, and 23 people will have a Merry Christmas.”
After the collection of the gifts, students then wrapped each present, and Deacon Ciezki took the gifts, like Santa in his sleigh, to St. Luke’s where the gifts will then be distributed to the appropriate families to open on Christmas.
Mr. Kelleher is incredibly proud of what St. Mary’s students have accomplished in terms of service and giving back to others this holiday season: “It is truly heartwarming to see our students step up and help others, especially at this time of the year,” he said. “They are seeing just how big of an impact they can have with their actions, and that’s what we really preach here at St. Mary’s.”
