Saratoga's Sacred Heart School Students Organize Blood Drive For Classmate With Leukemia

Sacred Heart School's fourth-grade class hosted a blood drive earlier this month to help classmate Andrew Oswald who was diagnosed with leukemia last fall.

Andrew has acute lymphoblastic leukemia and since his diagnosis the class and parents have organized a number of "Acts for Andrew" projects to support him and help fight leukemia, said school spokeswoman Lupita Inzunza.

During the March 11 event, the students created personalized posters promoting the drive, greeted and thanked each of the donors and wrote thank-you cards to them, she said.

"It was a hugely successful parish-wide community event and Andrew even attended," Inzunza said.

Acts for Andrew is the slogan teacher Wendy DeVincenzi’s pupils are using when helping Andrew, she said, adding that the kind deeds have included events such as sponsoring a baseball booth at the parish carnival and organizing a visit by Ronnie Lott, former 49er and participating in the annual Light the Night Walk, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Walk in downtown San Jose.

The school's student council also dedicated proceeds from its annual Halloween Carnival to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Inzunza noted.

Similarly, seventh-grader Daisy Biggers organized a bake sale with proceeds going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

"At Sacred Heart we say that our students are service oriented. That's true and so are their parents," Inzunza said.

Last month, Andrew dropped by the school when the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society announced he would be an "honored hero" at its October 2013 Light the Night Walk in San Jose, according to Inzunza.