Posts Tagged "Charity"
Class of 2023 Continues one of Lake Catholic's Longest-Standing Traditions
November 21, 2022
What had started off as a Thanksgiving feast for friends to enjoy each other as an entire class, has turned into much more at Lake Catholic.
Turkey Day, one of the school’s longest standing tradition started back in 1974, continued on Monday, Nov. 21, as the Class of 2023 lived out one of Lake Catholic’s core values – it’s willingness to serve.
“This is one of the most important days of our school year,” said Alison Ellis, the Lake Catholic Theology Department Chair, and head of the school’s Campus Ministry. “It’s important for the seniors to go out and put our values into action. And we invite the entire school to the prayer service so the underclassmen can see what this means to all of us.”
The day started with an all-school prayer service, asking for prayers not only for the senior class, but also for those who it was going to help. The seniors chose between nine different service projects and headed out in the community.
Groups were sent off to clean up the Fairport Harbor beach, despite the snow and cold; Broadmoor School, to work and play with the children; Willoughby Workshop, to work and eat lunch with the adults there; Vocational Guidance Center, working with the adults there; Little Annie’s Hope Train, assembling toiletries for the homeless; Grateful Giving, baking cookies for first responders; Karpos Ministry, making hot meals for the homeless at St. Mary Painesville; the Food Bank in Geauga County, making hot meals for the homeless; and shoveling driveways for the elderly in Mentor (which was a change up from leaf clean up because of the weather).
The students came back to school for a catered Thanksgiving feast, which was what Turkey Day started as back in the ‘70s.
“This day originally started just as a way for us to have the entire senior class sit down and enjoy each other over a Thanksgiving dinner,” said Rich Troha, who was the originator of Turkey Day when he was a teacher at here. “It has grown into a day of service but bringing the kids back to school is a nice way to combine what it was to what it is now.”
The day ended with another new addition – a Community Action Poverty Simulation, which is an interactive immersion experience that sensitizes participants to the realities of poverty. The Simulation is a program run out of the Nonprofit and Public Service Center at Lakeland Community College. Dione DeMitro, who executed these simulations at Lakeland before becoming the President and CEO at United Way of Lake County, volunteered at Lake Catholic to head up the simulation.
She said when she works with a group entirely made up of students, that there is at least one who has that “ah-ha” moment to realize how blessed they are. She said she heard from a couple students afterward that they did have such a moment.
“My hope is that when you leave here, you understand how blessed you are,” she told the group as they wrapped up. “I hope you go out and share your time, talents, and gifts with your community.”
Cougars Collect More Than 2,000 Pairs of Socks for Charity
November 02, 2022
As October came to end on Monday, so did the Socktober sock drive at Lake Catholic High School.
Socktober, which is promoted by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, provides pairs of socks to those who are homeless. According to the Socktober website – happysocktober.com - each night in the United States, an estimated 600,000 people live on the streets.
“Socks are the number one thing needed, but the least donated items,” said Julie Tinik, who got involved in the initiative a few years ago in Cleveland, but then branched out to include Lake County.
This was the fourth year Lake Catholic students collected socks. After collecting 650 pairs in 2021, this year’s students donated 2,373 pairs. Last year, Tinik donated a total of 2,021 pairs from all of her collection sites.
Throughout the month there were two separate competitions to see who could donate the most socks – homerooms all competing against each other, and the four grades competing against each other. For the second year in a row, the Class of 2023 was the winner in that competition.
“It’s an absolute huge amount of socks, and it’s a credit to the generosity of all the students, parents, faculty and staff here at Lake Catholic,” said Kelly Wolf, Lake Catholic Visual Arts Department Chair and coordinator of the Socktober donation effort. “We almost tripled our donation from last year. It’s a blessing to see how willing to give our students truly are.”
Tinik was equally impressed.
“When I saw the total, I was crying,” she said. “I can’t thank Lake Catholic enough.”
This year, Tinik said she plans to get the socks to Project Hope for the Homeless in Painesville, Sub Zero Mission in Painesville, the City Mission in Cleveland and Forbes House in Painesville.
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