Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools are expressing their gratitude this Thanksgiving in a variety of ways that are serving, uplifting, and displaying God’s compassionate love. From food drives to fundraisers, mission trips to service activities, students, staff, and families are following the Xaverian way, making themselves available, and living out a spirit of thanks.
Lowell Catholic in Lowell, MA, hosted a food drive on campus with students collecting and organizing a variety of donations. Students in Mrs. Dupre’s advisory made cards and lap blankets for the VA in Lowell. Additionally, students collected over 800 items for the Salvation Army!
At Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, MA, a food drive benefitted the Norwood Ecumenical Food Bank. Malden Catholic in Malden, MA, hosted a food drive and turkey fundraiser as well as a prayer service. St. Bernard School’s student council donated nearly 1,000 items to help feed local families, benefitting St. Vincent de Paul Place Norwich, weighing a total of 680 pounds. Nazareth Regional High School in Brooklyn as well as Mount Saint Joseph’s High School in Baltimore also hosted food drives.
In Shrewsbury, MA, Saint John’s High School’s pioneer family gathered to spread warmth and cheer bringing hats, gloves, mittens, gift cards, and other materials to help people in need. The school also hosted a food drive in support of two separate food pantries, St. John’s Food for the Poor and Our Lady of Providence Parish.
At Xavier High School in Middletown, CT, the school’s Ryken Society hosted their annual cranberry sauce and gravy drive for The Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project, donating at least 200 cans of cranberry sauce and 200 jars of gravy.
At Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, MD, the entire freshman class hosted a Thanksgiving Basket Drive, collecting food to create Thanksgiving baskets for the Inwood House, a residential house for adults with disabilities near the school’s campus. The project allows residents to have a Thanksgiving celebration, one in which they might not have otherwise.
In Louisville, KY, St. Xavier High School collected over 205 blankets for Blanket Louisville, 50 coats, gloves, and scarves for Catholic Charities Migration & Refugee Services, $400 in gift cards for Norton Children’s Hospital, 450 pairs of shoes for WaterStep, and 150 pounds of toiletries for Saint Vincent DePail. Additionally, with help from the Tiger community, senior Eric Palazzao, along with his Civil Air Patrol Cadet Squadron, exceeded a goal of 250 Remembrance Wreaths for Zachary Taylor National Cemetery by well over 300.
Kentucky was also served by Maryland, as St. Mary’s Ryken in Leonardtown sent their Principal, Dean of Students, and several students on a service trip to Beattyville, KY, an area hard hit by flooding earlier this year. The goal of the trip was to make Christmas brighter for 500+ residents in the surrounding counties and to decorate Ms. Dora’s Keystone Croner Ministries for her annual Christmas gathering. The ministry is a distribution center to area families in need of coats, gloves, toys, and food.
In Danvers, MA, St. John’s Prep hosted a gift card drive to benefit local food pantries. Lazarus House partnered with the school to provide their guests with $25 Market Basket gift cards, helping nearly 2,000 families purchase culturally relevant food for their holiday meals. A portion of the gift cards were also donated to Bread & Roses, a Newburyport food pantry, and Haven for Hunger.
In Brooklyn, Xaverian High School hosted a clothing drive to help two organizations that work with women in need: Su Casa, an organization in Manhattan that works with women in shelters and or just released from prison, as well as The Center Against Domestic Violence, a Brooklyn organization working with women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. In addition to the clothing drive, a bake sale raised over $500 for the center. The school also hosted their annual canned food drive with all cans donated to a nearby soup kitchen. Students made sandwich packages for the homeless and donated them to the soup kitchen. This month, over 80 students participated, donating breading, water, peanut better, jelly, fruit and snacks, making over 200 packages. 18 students and four teachers embarked on a service retreat to Camden, NJ, at the Romero Center Ministries helping the poor and needy in Camden.
The XBSS community celebrates the gift of family, friends, colleagues, and community, and all those who are a part of the Xaverian mission this Thanksgiving!
