November 22, 2016
Dear Parents:
St. Andrew-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School has been involved in an ongoing service project for the last 19 years. The eighth grade class, along with some help from the fifth grade, adopts as many as 10 families each Christmas. Our Adopt-A-Family program is completely funded by the work that the eighth grade class does. Each year we hold a bake sale/cake auction to raise money to buy gifts and a Christmas meal for needy families from the St. Vincent de Paul Society from both the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish and the St. Andrew campus.
Here is how it works:
First, each year the date of the bake sale/auction is designated as an out of uniform day for the cost of $2 per student. Secondly, students raise money through the traditional bake sale at the St. Andrew Campus and a magnet sale at the Seton Campus (All magnets are created by the fifth grade class). The bake sale is run by the eighth grade class at St. Andrew and the magnets are sold by the fifth grade class at Seton. Year after year the eighth graders respond to the bake sale by making plenty of baked goods. After the sale, the left over baked goods are then boxed into three, four, maybe five packages and sold in auction format in the cafeteria to the highest bidder. These packages early on during the service project, sold for five, eight, or ten dollars, but it did not take long for students to realize that there were plenty of cookies, cupcakes, etc. in each of the packages and if they pooled their money together, the combined effort would have a far better chance of winning the auction item than the effort of just one buyer. Hence, the cake auction was born. Students, faculty, staff, and parents began making their own special cakes to be sold in auction format. In the spirit of giving, some of these cakes have sold for $150or more. Students are not pressured to give what they do not wish to give. Charity is not when money is taken from individuals and redistributed, but when one freely wishes to give out of love for neighbor. The students have fun and are extraordinarily generous.
The Adopt-a-Family project does not end after that day. The next week 8th grade students as well as faculty and staff members go purchase gifts for the families we have adopted. We also purchase gift cards and allow the adults in the families to shop as they wish. The amount of gifts purchased is truly amazing and it usually takes about an hour to check out. We try to provide some basic essentials…socks, underwear, pajamas, sweatshirts, coats, pants, shirts, etc. as well as some item for each child that is just fun in nature. Another group of 8th graders take over from there and wrap all the gifts purchased. Finally, after the gifts have been purchased and wrapped, a separate group of 8th graders deliver the gifts either to the families personally or to St. Vincent de Paul.
All of this is possible because of the bake sale/magnet sale/auction/out-of-uniform day and some very generous, hard-working students here at SASEAS School.
Our Adapt-a-Family bake sale and cake auction will be held on Friday, December 2, 2016. Thank you in advance for all you do to help your children and for helping to make this year’s adopt-a-family program a success.
Nick Grieco
Assistant Principal
Eight Grade Teacher