When the Outreach Program at St. Sebastian Church in Middletown came up with the idea to collect toiletries to be distributed through St. Vincent de Paul, Joe Carta reached out to Xavier.
His son had graduated from here in 1999 so he knew the service-oriented mission of the school. Mrs. Keereweer, an administrative assistant who is in charge of the Student Activities Council, organized the drive.
The response was overwhelming: 2,450 items were collected. From 732 toothbrushes to 160 razors, from 286 tissues/wipes to 201 hand soaps, the boxes kept filling up in the front foyer as the campaign went on in March.
March Gladness for sure.
The freshman class brought in the most items, 1,031. All of it was loaded onto a truck trailer on Wednesday morning by some SAC members.
This also has been the month for March Can Madness, organized by Ryken Service Society members and Ms. Keefe, in which homerooms collect canned and boxed goods for the Amazing Grace Food Pantry in Middletown. The winners of the grade levels that moved on to the semifinals were the following homerooms:
Mrs. Duffy (12th grade- Rm 302); Mr. Braychak (11th grade- Rm 208); Mr. Garrity (10th grade- Rm 106); Mr. Bell (9th grade- Rm 204).
On Tuesday, April 5, two homerooms will advance to the finals. The freshmen are up against the seniors and the juniors are taking on the sophomores in the semis. The winning home room receives the Canley Cup, built out of nearly 50 empty soup cans with a metal bowl on top. Quite the work of art!