Health & Fitness
Kennedy Students ‘Thankfully Giving’ for Thanksgiving
Kennedy Catholic's Student Government collected and donated more than 1,200 perishable items and $3,200 to relief efforts in Staten Island last week.
Kennedy Catholic’s Student Government collected and donated more than 1,200 perishable items and $3,200 to relief efforts in Staten Island last week.
“Thanksgiving is a compound word,” the Rev. Mark Vaillancourt, president and principal of Kennedy Catholic, wrote in an e-mail to alumni and parents recognizing the students’ efforts. “For every person giving thanks, there is someone else thankfully giving.”
After learning of the Superstorm Sandy devastation—students like themselves left without homes—that still exists in areas such as Staten Island, Student Government collected funds to purchase gift cards for building supplies so families can resurrect their houses and lives. The student body also amassed perishable food items for the Veterans of Foreign Wars relief center on the south shore of Staten Island that has become a national drop-off site for victim relief.
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Seniors Gabrielle D’Amato, Shannon Spillane, Natalie Burke, Ryan Empson and John Brabazon joined Father Vaillancourt on Nov. 19 in hand-delivering the school’s donations to the nearly 40 students at St. Joseph-by-the-Sea High School in Staten Island whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. One such displaced student accompanied the St. Joseph’s Student Council to receive Kennedy’s donation. It was a powerful experience for the Kennedy contingent.
“We thank you very deeply for all the hard work that your students have done on behalf of the people of Staten Island,” the Rev. Michael Reilly, principal of St. Joseph-by-the-Sea High School said. “This will go a long way toward helping them.”
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For Father Vaillancourt, who spent four years prior to his Kennedy Catholic appointment as the chaplain, assistant academic dean and science department chair at St. Joseph’s, it was a wonderful opportunity to bring some aid and comfort to a community in need.
“I consider our school equally blessed to have students who live out our faith by recognizing their place in the greater community and give back to it,” Father Vaillancourt said. “A future guided by such selfless citizenship is a future for which we can all be thankful.”
