February 6, 2009
Ice storm knocks out CSW canned food drive project
Anwyn Wilhelmus, Tom St. Pere, Samantha Pauli and Keller Oeth participate in an on-site field trip as part of Catholic Schools’ Week. They are students at Christ the King School in Evansville. “During the course of the program, students built a motorized race car from scratch using advanced LEGO parts and pieces from LEGO kits,” said Sandy Lasher, principal. “Students worked as a team to build the race car and added an electric motor to race them. This activity harnesses the motivational effects of LEGOs to teach math and science (simple machines, forces in motion, gear ratios), learning mechanical vocabulary, three dimensional shapes, comparing and contrasting objects, extending patterns, and listening and following directions.” Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Because of the recent ice storm in southern Indiana, schools were not in session in the Diocese of Evansville during Catholic Schools Week.
This year, using the national theme of “Celebrating Service” and the diocesan theme of “Building God’s Kingdom,” students were going to collect canned goods and other food items for the poor.
Teachers at Holy Rosary School in Evansville had come up with a service project that “happens to go right along with our theme,” said Joan Fredrich, principal.
They invited all the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Evansville to join them in collecting non-perishable items for the local food pantries.
On Jan. 31, students were to bring their items to Washington Square Mall on Evansville’s east side. At the mall, each school would have used its canned goods and other food items to build a village.
However because of problems with the weather, the project was cancelled. “Several of the schools participating were doing a week long blitz food collection and with only one day in school, they just didn’t have the food items to be able to build,” Fredrich said.
“All of the participating schools still plan to collect and plan to get their food items to the pantry themselves. We have been in contact with Sister Donna at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry and they are truly in need at this time. In addition, we’re also encouraging others to consider helping the food pantry as this ice and snow storm has increased the pantry’s needs.
“So rather than have our symbolic building of God’s kingdom before we take our food items to the pantry, we’re going to just literally help build God’s kingdom and just get them the food items they so need right now!”