Delivery Day 2011

from Holy Cross 4th-grade teacher &
Christmas Families program organizer, Susan Gittinger -

The Christmas Spirit is alive and well at Holy Cross School.

The school adopted 14 families from St. Benedict’s Children’s Center and watched as Santa’s elves (the AMAZING students and parents of HCS) filled boxes to their brims with items the families desperately needed, as well as those special Christmas gifts little ones dream of receiving. On December 7, the ‘super elves’ (8th graders and parents) carted all the goods to cars that then caravanned to St. Ben’s.

From beginning to end, the Christmas Family Project was an amazing display of generosity!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Other pages and blog posts about our Holy Cross Christmas family program:

• Christmas Families
• Christmas Families 2011
• Delivery Day
• Christmas Families 2010

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Día de entrega 2011

El espíritu navideño está vivo y bien  presente en la escuela de Santa Cruz.

La escuela adoptó a 14 familias del centro infantil de ST. Benedict y vieron como los duendes de Santa (increíbles estudiantes y padres de HCS) llenaron las cajas hasta el tope con todas las cosas que las  familias necesitaban, así como los regalos de Navidad especiales para los  más pequeños los cuales sueñan con recibir. El 7 de diciembre,  los súper “duendes” (8 º grado y padres) cargaron  todas las mercancías en los carros para luego llevarlos a St. Ben.

De principio a fin, el proyecto de las familias para esta Navidad  fue una sorprendente muestra de generosidad!

Christmas Families 2011

“… whatever you did for one of these
least brothers of mine,
you did for me.”
Matthew 25:40

As you start your holiday shopping, consider adding a few more items to your list!

Holy Cross Catholic School is again adopting families for the Christmas holiday.  It’s a tradition we are proud to continue. Family and friends of Holy Cross help to provide families of the St. Benedict’s Children’s Center with food, toiletries, clothing and gifts. Each classroom is assigned a family.

If you’d like to help contribute to our Christmas adoption, take a look at the list on the Christmas Families page on this blog to see what items are needed. You can drop the items by the school office, with a note of for which classroom’s family the item is meant. If you are able to purchase a turkey and store it at your home until Wednesday, December 7, email Mrs. Gittinger to let her know. She also needs people who can drive and help deliver the food and gifts on the morning of December 7. We begin loading cars, vans, trucks and pack mules just after 8 a.m., and are generally loaded and ready to go by about 9.

Thanks for your help in showing the spirit of Christmas to those in need!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Familias  en Navidad 2011

Cuando inicie sus compras de la temporada, considere la posibilidad de agregar unas cuantas más a la lista!

Escuela católica de Santa Cruz está adoptando nuevamente familias para la temporada de Navidad. Es una tradición que nos sentimos orgullosos de seguir. Familiares y amigos de Santa Cruz ayuda a proporcionar a las familias de los niños del Centro San Benito con alimentos, artículos de tocador, ropa y regalos. Cada aula tiene asignada un familia.

Si desea contribuir a nuestra adopción de Navidad, echar un vistazo a la lista en la página de Familias en Navidad en este blog para ver qué cosas son necesarias. Puede colocar los artículos en la Oficina de la escuela, con una nota  para la familia y el aula correspondiente. Si usted puede comprar un pavo y almacenarlo en su casa hasta el miércoles, 7 de diciembre,  seria de mucha ayuda y  se lo podría comunicar a la Sra. Gittinger a traves de su correo electrónico para dejarle saber. Ella también necesita personas que puedan conducir y ayudar a entregar la comida y regalos en la mañana del 7 de diciembre. Empezamos cargando carros, vans, camiones justo después de las 8:00 am y son generalmente cargados y listos para irse alrededor de las 9.

Gracias por su ayuda  mostrando el espíritu de la Navidad a los necesitados!

Delivery Day!

Just a quick note to show you some of the activity going on at Holy Cross today as we load up the toiletries, food and gifts for our adopted Christmas families at St. Benedict’s…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Christmas Families

The halls of Holy Cross are filled with boxes today. They’re being filled and packed and closed and organized and readied for delivery tomorrow to St. Benedict’s.

Here’s an update on the Christmas Families project from organizer and 4th-grade teacher, Susan Gittinger -

The Christmas Spirit is alive and well at Holy Cross.  This is one community that truly remembers ‘the reason for the season’.   For the past 20 years, the students, parents and staff of Holy Cross have become the hands and feet of Jesus through the Christmas Family Program.  Each year every HC classroom adopts a family from St. Benedict’s Children’s Center and provides the family food, toiletries, clothing, and gifts. This year 14 families will benefit from the generosity of the HC community.

The program is a wonderful extension of our social outreach program in which the 5th- and 6th-grade students spend a morning each month interacting with children at the center.  As the halls fill with boxes, beds, and bicycles the hearts of all who walk down them fill with the love of Jesus. It is amazing to witness how lives are changed when we put our faith into action.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Reminders for Wednesday

Please remember that we have an All School Mass tomorrow (Wednesday) for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  The weather forecast is predicting a low of 19 tonight.  This means that tomorrow morning promises to be quite cold.

We plan to have a bus shuttle K – 3rd graders to church and back.

We will need parent drivers to help us with 4th – 8th grade.  If you are able to help with that, please be in the playground parking lot (Trees) lot between 8:25 and 8:30 a.m.

Even though we are planning to give the children rides to church and back,
it is still important for them to come dressed for the weather.
They often have to stand outside waiting to load onto the bus or into a car.  Also, depending on the temperature after mass, we may have the older children walk back to school.

Thanks for you help.

Another reminder for Wednesday, remember it is the final full day to drop off any gifts for our adopted Christmas families at St. Benedict’s.  The boxes will be delivered on Thursday.

Bins for St. Ben’s

Three Holy Cross eighth-graders are working on a service project for their Confirmation preparation, and you can help.

They are collecting clothes for St. Benedict’s Community Center, an early education and daycare center for underprivileged children in Kansas City, Kansas. Our school has a special connection with St. Ben’s, and it has become a tradition for Holy Cross classes to adopt St. Ben’s families at Christmas.

There are bins in the Holy Cross hallways (one by the office and another by the eighth-grade classrooms), where donations of new or gently-used clothing – socks, underwear, shirts and pants – are being accepted. (Coats and gloves aren’t needed at this time) They are particularly in need of clothing for the children served at St. Benedict’s, infant to school-age children.

TJ. Eccles, Ian Jones and Brendan Sweetman, organizers of the project, will be delivering donated items to St. Benedict’s on Feb. 19, March 4, March 26, April 9, April 23 and May 7.

If you have a chance to clear out items from your closets that are no longer used, please consider donating them to the ‘Bins for St. Ben’s’ project.

For more information, call the Holy Cross office at (913) 381-7408.

Learning to Live the Gospel

Yes, there is snow on the ground and it is a cold day in Kansas, but we missed the worst of the storm and we will forge ahead with our school day at Holy Cross.

~~~

“…whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Matthew 25: 40

Again this year, fourth-grade teacher Mrs. Gittinger is organizing the Holy Cross effort to help families in need at the holidays. Our school is adopting 15 families from St. Benedict’s Children’s Center.  Holy Cross families are asked to help make a special holiday for these families by giving gifts, toiletries and other supplies. Our school halls are lined with boxes of gifts and donations from our Holy Cross families to the St. Benedict’s families.

We provide each family a turkey, also. Holy Cross volunteers will be delivering tomorrow, Dec. 10. If you can help by buying a turkey or by driving, please contact Susan Gittinger at sgittinger@holycrosscatholicschool.com.

I’m proud to be part of this effort, and to see our students learn to live the Gospel.

You Should Have Seen It

The halls of Holy Cross School were filled with boxes, beds, dressers, bikes, car seats, and more. No one was moving and we weren’t just making a mess. Our students adopted families from the St. Benedict’s Center in Kansas City, Kansas for Christmas. Yesterday morning an army of parents decended upon the school and broght cars, vans and trucks. With the students’ help they loaded everything up and delivered the presents to the Center. What a response! Holy Cross families really came together to help these families have a merry Christmas. We donated not only gifts for the famlies, but much needed grocereies and toiletry items as well. I am so proud to call Holy Cross home. Thanks so all who make this effort a success!