SJB students exhibit their stewardship skills

Courtesy photo/Saint John the Baptist Schools

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Tiny the pumpkin is shown with some of the canned goods collected by Saint John the Baptist students during Red Ribbon Week. 

DRAPER — Saint John the Baptist Elementary and Middle School students used their time and talents and raised quite a treasure.

The money the students raised from their service projects goes toward St. John the Baptist Parish’s Christmas social justice fund for families in need. "Every year they raise a little bit more, but this year the amount doubled," said Ruth Penderghast, St. John the Baptist Parish accountant. "When we budget for Christmas to adopt families through Catholic Community Services and within our parish, we anticipate getting this money. But this year the students donated so much money to this fund that there was no cost to the parishioners and we were even able to donate some to Saint Therese’s parish social justice fund.

"What got my attention was these projects came as the parish began taking stewardship seriously," she added. "It was amazing to see how the students could take small projects and turn them into so much money. They donated $2,651.55, and the money was used to buy grocery script cards."

The second-grade class donated $1,367.30 and the fourth grade donated $1,160. Dr. Gary Carter, an orthodontist and St. John the Baptist parishioner, challenged the students to bring in their Halloween candy and he would donate $1 a pound. He donated $124.25 to the social justice fund and sent the candy overseas to families in need.

To raise funds, the three second-grade classes participated in a two-fold service project. Second-grade teachers Kristie Blasingim, Denise Hudson and Kristen Stokes invested $180 by giving each of the 90 second-grade students a $2 bill, and studied the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. The students were assigned to increase their $2 by doing a service project. They earned $2,727 with such projects as making and selling muffins and caramel apples, buying Windex and doing chores, creating paintings to sell on eBay, and buying glow-sticks to sell at a higher price. Some of the students reinvested their money to earn more.

In October the second graders also brought in toys, candy and school supplies to fill the shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. The fifth graders partnered with the second-grade classes by making rosaries for the boxes and each child included a hand-written letter. With the money they earned they shipped the boxes to Operation Christmas Child at $7 a box; the rest was donated to the social justice fund.

"Our theme for this year is ‘Love One Another,’ and we wanted the students to embrace and show love to people outside the school," said Blasingim. "I also wanted to bring the Bible into their lessons and into their lives in a creative way to enhance their faith."

The fourth-grade class learned about gardening and giving in their service project. Fourth-grade teacher Holy Cross Sister Celine Dounies and St. John the Baptist kindergarten para-professional Monica Bathurst had the students plant and tend a garden.

"We started by planting flowers and vegetables in the Juan Diego green house," said Sr. Celine. "We sold some of the plants in May, and planted the vegetables in the school garden. In October, Healthy Draper had a farmer’s market and we sold our produce. We also held a raffle for a large pumpkin we grew and named Tiny. We challenged the students to bring in 1,500 items of canned food for Red Ribbon Week to smash out drugs. The students brought in more than 2,000 items, so Tiny was dropped off a 40-foot platform and recycled back into the garden."

The canned food items were donated to food banks at Saint John the Baptist, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and Saint Andrew parishes, Sr. Celine said.