JPII Recognized for Service Project by Archdiocese

Each Catholic Schools Week, the Department of Catholic Schools recognizes service projects performed by Catholic schools within the Archdiocese. Schools submit essays explaining one of their projects, and a few of those essays are selected to be recognized on the first day of Catholic Schools Week. This year, JPII's Advent Angel Project was selected. Three students -- Ben Bailey, Asun Guerra, and Maria Whitworth -- represented the school at the press conference, and received the commendation on behalf of the school. Each has been active in the project, along with great leadership by Dr. Christina Kenney, our faculty member lead on the project.

The JPII Advent Angel program benefits the De Paul Family Center, a family outreach center run by the Daughters of Charity, located on the south side of San Antonio. The project is now annually in the hands of our freshman class; in the first years of the school, it was run by all of our students. The school community – students, parents, teachers – comes together to serve the families that receive benefits from the center.

Each year, the students leading the project decorate a few trees in the school lobby with personally made Christmas ornaments. Written on each of the ornaments are items needed for families that are served by the DePaul Family Center. Students, parents, and teachers take the ornaments and include these items in their Christmas shopping. In the first two years, the ornaments had some Christmas presents for younger children, but most importantly, the gifts collected were practical household items, food, supplies, and gift cards. In our third year of the project, we shifted to construct supply baskets for the elderly; during Advent and the month of January, the Center gives them out to area residents. The baskets have non-perishable food items (cereal, oatmeal, canned fruit, vegetables, hamburger helper, chicken helper, pasta, canned chicken, soups, crackers), all supplies with which to make meals, not just extra stuff from home pantries. Each basket also has some treats, cookies, tea, coffee, hot cocoa, warm socks, toilet paper, lotion, and soap. Finally, the basket has an HEB gift card for perishables and personalized card from our students. A team of 25 freshmen forms an assembly to build the baskets, and then pray over the baskets. A group of fifteen, in a convoy of five vehicles, delivers the baskets to the center, and usually get a chance to meet some of the people who will receive the items donated. This year, we donated 75 baskets, and have a goal of 100 in 2014.

The project was started by one of our teachers, Dr. Christina Kenney, MD, through the help of Mrs. Peggy Harkins, our school’s formation director. “It is important to me because I cared for many elderly patients throughout my medical training, and I saw many go without heat or medicine in order to keep a roof over their heads and feed themselves,” commented Kenney. “We are pro-life, but we need to see what that means in practice. We have a deep responsibility to the elderly as part of that pro-life calling.” Finally, Dr. Kenney and the team of freshmen have emphasized to the school community that we give from our first things, not our last. “The baskets have been filled with things that all of us would want to eat and have, from the cookies that we pick to the socks we choose,” said Kenney. “The kids get it when we get to the center. They see how helpful those daily items will be to those who receive them.”