Evergreen Christmas Spirit

MaryAnne Perkins, our lower school Math enrichment teacher, spearheaded a campaign this year to send letters to 410 military police deployed in Iraq. She and her kids became pen pals with the soldiers last year, and sent Christmas gifts to each one. These important connections with our soldiers have been maintained throughout the whole schoolyear. How lovely to remember people during the Christmas season; the spirit which doesn't fade during the other 11 months is true Christmas spirit indeed! We appreciate the math kids for maintaining these relationships.

Seventh Grade Offering

St. Gabriels' seventh graders are collecting toiletries this year for the homeless. What an excellent idea for a service project! Couldn't someone use all those small amounts of products which seem to acccumulate in our bathroom drawers? Just think about it: we probably wouldn't want to divulge how many little pots, tubes, jars, bars and bottles of stuff we feel we need to be presentable in the morning. Most of us would agree we could narrow it down to two or three if needed. Now imagine having to carry those three things around with you all day, every day. I know it makes me reassess what I really need. Thank you to the seventh grade for remembering the small, necessary comforts.

Footloose for Lifeworks

When the middle schoolers hold a dance, it's never just a dance. Recently, at their Winter dance they joined forces and collected over 100 backpacks for the youth at Lifeworks in Austin. This organization strives to provide a hand, as well as safety, to families in crisis. On another occasion, the kids brought in over 400 pounds of dog and cat food for an animal shelter. Their giving spirit should truly inspire us. Imagine the overflow of goodwill if, whenever we gathered together for fun, maybe at a book club meeting or monthly coffee club, we took the effort to remember those who may not have that kind of friendship and support in their lives. Kudos to these young teenagers for starting what could be a wonderful trend!

Eighth Grade Distributes Lunch

All those Bag lunches the little ones made for Caritas (see post below) are delivered and served at the downtown Caritas location by our eighth graders. These young people represent the best of us when they take on the role of servant to our city's hungry. As children develop into adults they are fortunate to have the opportunity to discover where their service is needed and then to carry through. We're proud of St. Gabriels' eighth grade class as they become the giving leaders and community servants of today and the future.

Parents Serve at Caritas Soup Kitchen

We are called to"feed the hungy." At least once every month a team of St. Gabriels parents serve lunch to hundreds of hungry Austin folks downtown at 6th and Neches. Generally a shift at the soup kitchen starts around 9:30 in the morning, preparing the food, washing fruit and vegetables, and setting up the serving trays. Lunch service runs from noon until 1:30 and feeds around 400+ people. The clean up is quick and efficient and involves getting the kitchen and service equipment scrubbed down and ready for the next day. This is one amazing operation. The people who regularly work Austin's only soup kitchen and the parents who volunteer there model the true spirit of service with their belief that when you serve in this capacity you receive much more than you give. As one Volunteer noted, "we provided them with enrichment of food and they provided us with enrichment of the soul."

Bag Lunches for Caritas

The truth is, making PBJs for Caritas each month is just plain fun. First, the lower school kids get to decorate brown bags with their art, drawn and personalized in bright marker. Then parent volunteers set up tables and create an assembly line in the school vestibule, just outside the lunchroom. They stuff the brown bags with chips and chocolates, then lay out the bread, get the peanut butter and jelly ready, and wait for the children to cycle through their lunch rotation. Class after class files by, talking and giggling while making their sandwiches. Some kids get really into it and would help all day if they could, but the limit is usually two. Two sandwiches per ziplock bag and pop, into a pretty bag it goes. Each grade level is responsible for at least one Caritas day per year, and there are always lots of volunteers because it's a chance to catch up with fellow moms and see all the kiddos. It's a wonderful way to spend a few hours. But the best thing about Caritas day is seeing lunch for 400 ready to ship out that afternoon.

A New Place to Play ..Coming Soon!

Boyscout Hudson East plans to be an Eagle Scout next year. For his Eagle Scout project Hudson is leading a major construction project in East Austin to build a brand new playground for a neighborhood community center which badly needs a safer place for children to play and families to meet. You will not believe the ambitious plans this young man has undertaken! At the time of this post he is 80% toward reaching his goal to build the playstructure. His website www.safeplayaustin.org will give you all the details about his personal service project. St. Gabriels is truly proud to have him represent our community.

A Math-a-thon for St. Judes

St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital leads the way in treating cancers in children. One way for kids to help other kids is through their Math-a-thon, now in its 27th year. Here's the deal: the fifth graders have obtained sponsors for math problems completed, they've honed their math skills, and they've taken the test. Now they're collecting their pledges to send to the hospital in Memphis for research and treatment. The test was fun and challenging, in the form of puzzles and games, and the money benefits other kids. That was enough to make St. Gabriels' fifth grade kids want to sharpen their pencils for a good cause.

Fourth Graders' Servicio!

Guatemala City may be 1200 miles away, but she is very near to the hearts and minds of our children in Jennifer Lyssy's and Jill Hall's fourth grade classrooms. In order to help some children take the first steps out of poverty, they will be sending school supplies to Safe Passage, an organization which provides an education to children who live in the harrowing city dump in Guatemala City. As a result of one child's education and graduation, his or her entire family may be lifted up from desperate survival to a life of hope and safety.

Chores Help Make Wishes a Reality

When it came time to choose a service project, third graders chose the organization which granted one of their classmates his wish last summer. The Make-A-Wish Foundation makes it possible for children with serious illnesses to see their wildest dreams come true. For Maxwell Gaddy, his was to visit the White House and become the president for a day. While one day may not have been long enough to affect the kinds of changes Maxwell surely envisioned, he did get to meet the president! The third grade children are doing odd jobs around their homes to raise money so that other kids might have similar amazing experiences of their own.

Friendship Boxes

Even our littlest ones seem to be able to imagine walking in another child's shoes. When asked to make a friendship box for children who come to an emergency shelter in New Braufels called Connections, these pre-kindergarteners thought of everything. Teachers Cecelia Locke and Rose Gibson suggested decorating a box and filling it with stuffed animals, books and school supplies; the children brought all that and more. Stickers, play dough, playing cards, toys, slinkies, toiletries and personal notes and drawings will offer a bright warm touch of welcome to what is likely and uncertain and troubling transition for many children. Mrs. Locke marvels, "it has been amazing to see what can fit in a shoe box. This has become a family activity and when the children bring in the boxes we talk about them at Religion time. The children are enjoying gathering the items and making each box special."

Every Little Tab Counts

Who knew the pop tab was more valuable than the can? The first graders do. This year Lydia Lowry's and Stephanie Cowan's classes have been collecting those high quality metal tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. Each box will be recycled to help with the charity's overhead, which covers a family's room and board when a sick child needs to be hospitalized far from home. In fact, the pop tab boxes bring in around $3000.00 annually -- proof that you don't have to be big to make a remarkable contribution. But any first grader could tell you that.

The volunteers at Mobile Loaves and Fishes in Austin would probably testify that clean, thick socks are one of the most useful items one can own. We who have access to washers and driers and Target stores seven days a week certainly don't give them much thought. Yet so many people just don't have the simple luxury of one clean pair each day. Several classes chose to focus their service projects around the much overlooked undergarment. Please check them out. Here, MLF director Alan Graham visits a kindergarten classroom at St. Gabriels.

If Days Were Socks

The kindergarten class has been keeping track of the days they've been coming to school this year. As the count approached the nice round number of 100, the kids started bringing in pairs of clean new socks, hoping to have at least 100 pairs when that auspicious day fell. On January 22, the hundredth day of school, the kids had 483 socks to count (which would put them well into the second grade, by the way). Teacher Ellen Yurko stated, "Much better than counting peices of candy, huh?"

Second Graders Reach out to the Homeless...

Literally. How many times a week do we pull up to an intersection in Austin to be met with someone who needs a hand? Well, the 2nd graders have put together some care packages to hand out, with a little help from their parents, in just such a situation. Each gift is a pair of socks with a stash of thoughtfully gathered personal items. Toiletries and a fresh pair of scoks will come in handy as recipients face another day on the streets. Along with a second grader's smile, this kindness could really help someone out. Thanks to Mrs. Stephanie Smith and Mrs. Erika Siebeneicher for coming up with this meaningful and tangible service project.