St. Therese Students Collect Paper Goods for Less Fortunate

Aurora, IL: Some might argue that teaching Social Justice to students as young as three and four years old is impossible. Not Michael Neis, the Principal of St. Therese of Jesus Catholic School. “We not only talk about taking care of others less fortunate than ourselves at different times throughout each school year, we challenge all of our students to demonstrate what they have learned. Even the youngest ones!” Clearly, Mr. Neis and his faculty have done an incredible job teaching this particular lesson: this past month, the students brought a total of 1,334 paper products to school to be donated to the St. Therese Food Pantry. That is just short of 100 items per child in the school! While this statistic is in itself amazing, to the credit of the Pre-schoolers, they led the other students in this effort. They were responsible for collecting 30% of all paper products.

Why is this type of paper drive important? Not only does it reinforce the classroom lessons, but, paper products like toilet paper, Kleenex™ and paper towels cannot be purchased through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families and provides economic benefits to communities. SNAP is the largest program in the domestic hunger safety net, but does have its limits. The Pantry will use these products in gift baskets to be given to families and individuals who rely upon their assistance especially at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. This means that they need not dip into their limited cash reserves to pay for items that most people take for granted.

About St. Therese School

St. Therese is a co-educational Catholic elementary school located in Aurora, Illinois. Founded in May 1925, St. Therese continues to offer an affordable Catholic education to students in Pre-school through 8th Grade. We serve a multicultural population through messages of faith, academic programs, and service opportunities. The educational team challenges students to practice their faith in Christ while becoming knowledgeable and skilled citizens. For more information about our school or any of our programs, please contact our Principal, Michael Neis at 630.898.0620