Lessons in generosity taught at Uniontown Catholic school
Submitted
Students at St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School in Uniontown are striving to make a greater effort to give of themselves throughout the year.
“Every grade does them,” said Chris Roskovensky, the principal at St. John the Evangelist Regional Catholic School about the annual service projects.
Roskovensky said the service projects have been going on for nearly 30 years where each class-preschool to 8th grade-picks a class project at the beginning of the school year.
Such projects this year include sending cards and drawings to residents at Mount St. Macrina and Senior Life, packing up sanitary items into travel packs for area nursing homes, cards for the military as well as sending care packages to troops serving overseas, collecting and donating supplies for Fayette Friends of Animals, collecting for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, donating food for the Fayette County Food Bank and donating supplies for the Fayette County Crime Victims’ Center,
The school’s third grade teacher, Mark John said their project this year was to collect items for City Mission-Living Stones.
“Heading into this academic year, our class began collecting items again for City Mission,” John said. “However, we (also) found ourselves collecting clothing items for the Children’s Closet, and the response was overwhelming. We decided to continue with both service projects.”
The Children’s Closet is operated by the Ladies of Charity of the Roman Catholic Parishes of Uniontown, and provides clothing, toys and supplies to families with children sizes newborn to 5T at no charge.
Roberta Skovera, the president of the Ladies of Charity, said the group serves everyone in need as they have helped people from other counties and states.
“Anyone who hears of us and is in need, no questions are asked of income,” Skovera said. “Each family is permitted one visit per month.”
John said students have donated clothing or toys they no longer use, or brought in new items to donate. The collection effort will go through the end of the school year, but students have so far been able to give the Children’s Closet 30 large bags full of needed items.
Rose Sokol with the Ladies of Charity said she’s thankful for the lessons students at St. John’s learn through their service projects.
“It teaches the students to be more caring, giving and compassionate,” Sokol said. “It also gives them a chance to experience the payoffs of generosity at such a young age.”
One of John’s students, Joshua Nickleson of Connellsville, said he appreciated the opportunity to help children who are in need. Student Bryce Pheasant of Smithfield agreed.
“I enjoy donating to the Children’s Closet because it makes me feel good to help others in the community,” he said.
John said the projects help the students strive to make a greater effort to give of themselves.
“It teaches them that other people out there benefit from their kindness, and it makes kids feel really really good,” Roskovensky said. “It benefits everyone.”
John added that, by putting others before themselves, the students learn the value of community service and gain a greater appreciation for what they have. The hope is that these service projects will encourage a lifetime of giving, he said.
“Students learn that there are others out there who have less and need more, and they learn that some of their belongings that are rarely used can be put to better use for others in need,” John said. “Our students learn the importance of almsgiving, and they learn to use their God-given talents, abilities and generosity to help grow the lives of others.”
Along with the individual service projects, Roskovensky said the entire school writes to senior citizens in various parishes so everyone has a penpal.
“They write to their penpals all year and correspond with them,” she said. “It’s very well received; both the senior citizens and the children love it.”
So much, in fact, that sometimes a bond forms and the penpals will attend the spring musicals, or even graduation for those in eighth grade.
“The main goal is the children reaching out to people in need, people who serve us like the military,” she said. “They learn to reach out to the community and be an active part of the community.”