St. Mary’s Catholic School Mission Shines Through Students

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Catholic News Agency

FREDERICKSBURG, TEXAS –Ā St. Maryā€™s Catholic SchoolĀ began its 160th year of classes in. Students in LouisianaĀ were also beginning their school year. Two days into school, the floods that devastated the state hit with full force. All the school supplies that had just arrived for the year were gone.

The 243 3K-8th grade students wholeheartedly embraced the opportunity to help. St. Maryā€™s (SMS) organized a three-day school supply drive, with the items delivered to the victims of the Louisiana flooding on August 25.

St. Mary’s SchoolĀ students were encouraged to bring any school supplies to help. Families, alumni and friends brought crayons, pencils, paper, spirals, markers, glue, teacher supplies and many other items.

Leticia Adams, SMS kindergarten teacher, used the opportunity as a teaching lesson for her students. When it was time to sort the items, she had her class do a math sorting project. The kindergarten class organized all the supplies into big containers which were loaded for transport by the Apache Football team.

ā€œI am amazed once again by the generosity of our community, our families, and our students,ā€ SMS principal John Mein said. ā€œThe outpouring of donations, that we thought might fill a box, quickly filled an office, then a separate room, and finally a whole truck.Ā I can’t imagine getting school started under such adverse circumstances as those in the flooded regions of Louisiana. I hope that the little things we have done can give a few students a good start to this new school year, and make sure they know their Texas neighbors have them in their prayers.ā€

The school supplies, along with clothing, toiletries and other donations, were delivered by SMS parents Amy Cop and Anna Ottmers. Cop said the devastation was intense. She encouraged everyone to get involved. ā€œYou canā€™t help everyone, but if everyone just helped one person,ā€ Cop said.

St. Maryā€™s 8th grade students choose a service project to raise money for each year. The 8th grade class has adopted one of the schools, Tanglewood Elementary, in Baton Rouge, LA. Fundraising is underway to help even more.

You can see a video of how this project helped on the school website at: http://school.stmarysfbg.com/mission-statement. The students of St. Maryā€™s lived out the mission statement, ā€œInspiring a lifelong love of God and service to neighbor.ā€