Print Issue: December 19, 2002

Christ The King Students Give Of Their Time, Talents, For Community And Mission Projects

Father Roy Lee, seventh-grade religion teacher, poses with some seventh-grade students after blessing the food collected for the Midtown Assistance Center. The students helped stock the center's food pantry. Pictured are, l-r, front row: Teddy Turner and Pierce Brooks; back row, l-r: Grayson Gibbs, Kent Cleveland, Tote Gonzalez-Aponte, Father Lee and Quinn Kane. Christ the King fifth-graders, l-r, Colleen Pelletier, Olivia Lindon, fifth-grade teacher Kathy Morton, Hanna Houle and Camila Prada-Rey worked three months selling doughnuts. The sale netted $1,000 for the Christ the King St. Vincent de Paul Society.

ATLANTA - Students and faculty at Christ the King School have been busy serving in their community over the past few months. Everyone from kindergartners to middle school students participated in projects ranging from visiting a nursing home to stocking a food pantry.

In early November, the school's physical education department held their fifth annual Turkey Trot, with proceeds from the run supplying a complete turkey dinner for 18 families. They were distributed through the Hispanic ministry at the Cathedral of Christ the King.

After earning money to purchase gifts to place in holiday baskets for the residents of Nurse Care, a nursing home in Buckhead, eighth-graders visited residents, decorated their Christmas tree, and led a Christmas sing-a-long. Both the residents and the students were very appreciative of the effort.

Kate Willingham said, "I walked away thinking how blessed I was to have my family and all my traditions during the holiday season." Addie Edwards said, "It felt good to spend time with people who don't have visitors often. It put me in the Christmas spirit." And Caroline Broder said, "It felt so good making someone's day special and seeing smiles on faces as we left."

Seventh-graders had their annual food drive benefiting the Midtown Assistance Center, an interfaith ministry providing assistance to the working poor. They spent a morning sorting and stocking the pantry shelves at the center for those seeking temporary assistance for their families.

After cathedral parishioner Maureen Sullivan spoke to the sixth grade about her next mission trip to work with the Coprodeli Foundation in Peru, the students knew that they wanted to respond to the need and pain they saw in Sullivan's video. Working with their religion teacher, Jackie Marcinko, the students decided to collect small toys, gifts and school supplies from home for the children in the Peruvian orphanage. The children filled brightly wrapped shoe boxes with their gifts and mailed them with the help of the Going family.

While sixth-graders collected toys for the orphanage, the entire school community enjoyed the fifth-grade doughnut sale on three chilly mornings before school. With all the overwhelming support, the fifth grade sold 3,600 doughnuts. The sale netted $1,000, which was donated to the St. Vincent de Paul Society at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Fifth- grader Ashton Moss said that "working as a team feels good and was a lot more fun. It was surprising how willing people were to give their money for a good cause."

Fourth-graders worked on "Joy" ornaments showing the Madonna holding the Christ Child. The ornaments were used as place setting decorations at the Seniors Christmas Luncheon at the cathedral. The fourth-graders provided the luncheon entertainment under the direction of their music teacher, Vonda Vrieland. The second- graders donated toys for second-grade teacher Anne-Marie Bowen to distribute to the children of the Mustard Seed Communities in Kingston, Jamaica.

The kindergarten, pre-first, and the student council worked on projects to assist the Buckhead Christian Ministry's "Joyous Toy Store." Because of donations, the ministry's clients were able to Christmas shop for their families at a reasonable cost. Each kindergarten and pre-first student did extra chores at home and in their neighborhood to earn their own money to purchase a special toy for donation. The student council followed up with a "College Day," whereby the student body wore their favorite college paraphernalia for a small donation. A $345 check was sent to assist the "Joyous Toys" campaign. Monty Stallings, a member of the Wieuca Baptist Church, delivered the toys for the school.

The school faculty and staff participated again in the Salvation Army's Christmas Stocking program. Working together, 80 stockings were filled along with a truck full of toys for distribution. Father Roy Lee, a visiting priest who teaches at the school, delivered the toys and stockings on behalf of the faculty.