Community Service
“Serve one another with the gifts you have received.”
Grade 5
Students in Grade 5 begin their project, Adopting a Nursing Home, as soon as school starts. Throughout the school year, students make cards for the residents of SpiriTrust Nursing Home in Gettysburg. Due to Covid restrictions they will not be able to visit, but residents will hopefully enjoy their cards for each upcoming holiday or season. In the future, students will hopefully have the opportunity to meet the residents.
Grade 6
Beginning in October, students in Grade 6 organize a First Friday Food Drive. Each student in the school is asked to donate one canned food item which the teachers place outside their classroom door where students in grade 6 collect them. After organizing them in boxes, they are delivered to Gettysburg Community Soup Kitchen. This is an excellent opportunity to feed the hungry in our community
Grade 7
The Grade 7 religion class sponsors an ongoing service project that is near and dear to grade 7 homeroom teacher, Mr. St. Clair, and other families in the St. Francis Xavier Catholic School/Church community, Recycle for Ronald McDonald House Philly. Throughout the year, students collect tabs from aluminum cans and deliver them to the Ronald McDonald House in Philly. Since beginning this project in 1997, the Ronald McDonald House in Philly has collected over 350 tons of tabs and $170,000! That money directly benefits the families they serve such as the St. Clair family and others in this community. Tabs are collected instead of entire aluminum cans because it is easier, more hygienic and there is a higher concentration of aluminum in the tabs. Any and all families may save tabs and send them in for the grade 7 students.
The second project for grade 7 is supporting religious vocations. Throughout the year, students send cards, care packages, and spiritual bouquets to various groups or people within the Diocese of Harrisburg. Some of the recipients include, but are not limited to, Bishop Ronald Gainer, the Harrisburg seminarians, the Carmelite nuns in Fairfield and of course, St. Francis Xavier Parish Pastor, Fr. Mitzel and Parochial Vicar, Fr. Lynch.
Grade 8
In November, students in grade 8 host a dress down day which funds a project to assist the homeless in the local community. Thanks to the generosity of SFX families, socks, hats, and personal care items such as shampoo, soap, lotion, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lip balm and many other needed necessities are purchased and placed in drawstring bags. After making the care packages, they are delivered to South Central Community Action Programs (SCCAP), which touches the lives of more than 13,000 families annually.
The second project for grade 8 is supporting religious vocations. Throughout the year, students send cards, care packages, and spiritual bouquets to various groups or people within the Diocese of Harrisburg. Some of the recipients include, but are not limited to, Bishop Ronald Gainer, the Harrisburg seminarians, the Carmelite nuns in Fairfield and of course, St. Francis Xavier Parish pastor, Fr. Mitzel and Parochial Vicar, Fr. Lynch.
Students in grade 8 also complete a third project by participating in the Box of Joy through Cross Catholic Outreach with the generous support of the St. Francis Xavier Parish Council of Catholic Women (PCCW). The PCCW purchases clothing, school supplies, toys and many more items and students in the grade 8 class pack the boxes. In 2020, the Box of Joy program blessed 61,422 children in 7 countries and brought hope to children in developing countries, providing them memorable Christmas gifts and a much-needed reminder of God’s love.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact Ms. Becky Sieg.
