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Students find places in their hearts for others
St. Peter's hails Catholic Schools Week with project
Friday, Feb. 5, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by EMILY BARNES
Prekindergarten students Jayla Scott, 5, left, Yasmine Yates, 4, and Andrea Tripplett, 5, sing along to music as they hold food items they donated during a pep rally before a food drive Tuesday at St. Peter's Catholic School in Waldorf.
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Students at St. Peter's Catholic School in Waldorf proved that a little can go a long way Tuesday.
Each class participated in a food drive supporting families in Charles County and a clothing drive for veterans in military hospitals in the United States, Afghanistan, Iraq and Germany.
J.R. West, principal of St. Peter's, said the two drives were to help the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the Sew Much Comfort organization that adapts clothes for veteran amputees.
Joan Dulcey, art teacher and a seamstress with Sew Much Comfort, said the organization began in 2004 when one woman saw a need to help amputee soldiers.
The organization takes donated clothes, opens seams and inserts Velcro allowing soldiers clothing options other than hospital gowns.
Hannah Weasenforth, 12, said Velcro makes it "easier to get clothes over veterans' casts."
Dulcey said volunteers in the United States, Canada and Europe have adapted 75,000 articles of clothing for veterans. She said a small group of volunteers meets in Charles County.
Dulcey said she was glad to see St. Peter's participate in the clothing drive and take an interest in the cause.
"If we were in their situation, they would do the same for us," said Taylor Wright, 13, about the clothing and food drives.
The St. Vincent de Paul food bank hands out food to 75 to 100 families a month in Charles County, according to West.
He said during the holidays and throughout this tough economic time, the food bank St. Vincent de Paul has at the school diminished quite a bit. Looking at the hundreds of donated items Tuesday West said the food drive turned out "way better than expected."
The event Tuesday was part of Catholic Schools Week, created by the Archdiocese of Washington to spotlight Catholic education.
Schools within the archdiocese kick off the week with open houses and during the week have various events focused around community service.
"The work we do at Catholic Schools Week shows that Catholic schools care about the community," said Laura Johnson, 12, a seventh-grader at St. Peter's.
Students said that Catholic Schools Week is not the only time for community service.
The week, according to Kayla Blais, 13, gets students "in the spirit of giving."
Piccowaxen Middle School student Katharine Snee, 13, contributed to this report.
