The holiday season is a time of joy, togetherness, and giving. The students at Our Lady of Lourdes are embracing the spirit of Christmas by organizing fundraising events to support various charitable causes. These initiatives not only showcase the generous nature of young minds but also demonstrate the power of collective action in making a positive impact on the community.
Principal Mrs. Vilardo expressed her pride in the students and their spirit of giving stating, “As we celebrate the holiday season, let us applaud and support these young philanthropists for their dedication to spreading cheer and making a meaningful difference in the lives of others.“
One of the remarkable aspects of these high school-led initiatives is the diversity of causes they support. Our students and faculty offered a variety of events and donations to help those in need this year in many ways. Here’s how our Warriors showed their Christian spirit of generosity this year.
Breakfast by Champions!
In mid-November, the holiday season of giving was kicked off by the Respect Life Club. More than 40 students, who make up this faith-based club, gathered in the school cafeteria to prepare Breakfast-to-Go bags. These dedicated young people spent their time after school preparing the bags to give to people who are homeless and in dire need of basic items. The Lourdes Respect Life Club is led by seniors and co-presidents, Mary Igoe and Olivia Cassieri, who were thrilled with the generous donations from the Lourdes faculty and staff. The bags, filled with PB&J sandwiches, granola bars, juice boxes, and other goodies, were delivered to Hope on a Mission, a local charity that provides food, clothing, and necessities to those in need. Many thanks to the Respect Life Club, along with the moderators, Mr. Forr and Mrs. D’Anselmi, two of our religion teachers helping to make a difference in both our school and the community.
Christmas Jammies Drive:
The Math Department once again hosted a Christmas Pajama Drive that was a huge success! Pajamas in all sizes - newborn through adult XL - were collected, sorted, bagged, and delivered to the Grace Smith House and Care Net Pregnancy Center in Poughkeepsie. All the math classes and teachers participated in helping local parents and children in need of cozy pajamas. A big thank you to all the wonderful Warriors who brought in 628 PAIRS OF PAJAMAS!
Red Cross Club Holiday Food Drive
Donations included canned fruits/veggies, hearty soups, tuna, beans, cereal, pre-cooked rice, peanut butter, jelly, crackers, snack foods, coffee, tea, sugar, and boxed milk.
Spearheaded by senior, Julia Hall, the Red Cross Club provides opportunities for students to make a difference by addressing our community’s greatest needs and developing leadership skills. Click here for more information about the club.
Sisters of Life Christmas Gift Drive
During Advent this year, the Respect Life Club collected baby supplies for mothers and expectant mothers, which were then donated to the Sisters of Life in Manhattan. The overjoyed Sisters distributed the items to mothers and their babies at a recent Christmas party.
The families were thrilled to receive much-needed items to help care for their babies and themselves. Supplies that were donated included: clothes, hats, scarves, diapers, bottles, bibs, Bibles, wipes, shampoo, and much more. These gifts will be sure to bring some comfort and joy to the mothers and their babies, thanks to the generosity of our Lourdes community, especially the Theology Department, whose teachers hosted the collection boxes and promoted the event in their religion classes.
Angels Helping Angels
Multiple initiatives were organized to benefit Angels of Light, a local organization based in Millbrook, whose goal is to help families by providing holiday gifts for their child with a life-threatening illness.
The JV and Varsity Girls Basketball teams hosted the annual Bastian Memorial Basketball Tournament on Dec.9th and 10th with a variety of fundraising efforts offered during the games. The teams hosted a concession stand, 50-50 raffle, and admissions, raising over $1,000 to donate.
The Senior Class Principal’s Ambassador Team also held an event to benefit Angels of Light. President of the team Kathleen Tsoubris, who spearheaded the initiative, explains, “Angels of Light is a wonderful, selfless organization so I decided to reach out to them for our team’s service project. Mrs. Lori Decker, the co-founder of Angels of Light, requested that we collect gifts for teenagers, as sometimes they are neglected around the holidays. There are, thankfully, always enough donations for young children, but teenagers deserve to have a joyful holiday season as well. For this project, the Principal’s Ambassador Team motivated the school to donate over 300 gifts for teens suffering from cancer or who have been through a recent, sudden tragedy in their lives. The team also came together to make cards for every gift donated with words of motivation and kindness to make the holidays a little bit brighter. This was a great project for our school as everyone worked to help kids our age by asking themselves, “What would make me happy this time of year? How can I make the holidays brighter for somebody else?”
No matter how old you are or what you have been through, everyone deserves to have a joyful holiday season. Why not spread love and remind these teens that they make the world a better place just by being in it, especially to those who need this reminder most?”
A big thanks to the Senior Class Principal’s Ambassador Team and Kathleen Tsoubris for organizing this remarkable event and a special shout out to Kathleen’s grandfather for helping deliver the gifts.
