Lesson Plan Spans from Bayside into Bushwick

By Stefanie Gutierrez

LENDING A HELPING HAND: Students from Sacred Heart School carry student-donated supplies to a van that delivered it all to St. Frances Cabrini School.

“I definitely think that the students learned that a simple act of kindness can really make a difference,” said Clare Reeves, the first-grade teacher at Sacred Heart School, Bayside, who conceived an idea during Catholic Schools Week that ended up giving a helping hand to a struggling diocesan school.

Reeves first approached Dennis Farrell, principal, with a suggestion, “that we as a school assist or help out another Catholic school in the diocese that is having a rough time financially,” Farrell said.

He placed a call to Tom Chadzutko, Superintendent of Catholic School Support Services, and explained the project to him. Essentially, Sacred Heart wanted to help another school in need by donating school supplies like crayons, glue sticks, construction paper and anything else that may help alleviate such costly expenses on both the school and parents.

Chadzutko recommended three schools, but St. Frances Cabrini, the cluster school that is housed in the former St. Joseph Patron School in Bushwick, was the first to answer Farrell’s call.

Maria Crifasi, principal, said, “Dennis called me in February and told me this is what they were planning to do… I was shocked, and asked him how he heard about us!”

Reeves, when she first thought of the project, said, “Seeing how much the kids here at Sacred Heart have, we wanted to think of others. And during Catholic Schools Week, I thought it was a great idea, and it was simple.”

She and Farrell structured it for the children to go out and buy an item; the highest cost was two dollars. “With all of the collections that the kids came in with, they could not believe that children didn’t have the pencils, the crayons, the supplies that we take for granted,” she explained.

Planning began for each grade level. Students were assigned an item they were responsible for, and then the teachers added to it extra things they had in the school, such as motivational signs and classroom materials for other teachers to use in the classroom.
“The reality of schools closing is something that teachers are very sensitive to, and this was a way for one school to lend a helping hand to another,” Farrell said.

It took only two weeks for Sacred Heart to gather the supplies, and on March 21, Farrell and Reeves drove a van filled from the top to the bottom with supplies to St. Frances Cabrini School.

“The school knew we were coming, and they were so very positive and so grateful. It will benefit a lot of children with extended academics and art programs who otherwise couldn’t afford it,” Farrell said.

Crifasi added, “The teachers were very overwhelmed… They didn’t expect such a large amount. They were so thrilled that someone was thinking of someone less fortunate.”

She continued, “It was a lesson for both student bodies. I think my students will understand better that not everybody is out for themselves, that people do give. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that people who don’t have to give, still will.”

Seventh-graders from St. Frances Cabrini greeted Farrell and Reeves with a tour of their school and a reception with refreshments after all of the supplies were delivered.

“I thought that it was the least we could do after what they did for us and I wanted to show them our appreciation,” Crifasi said.

“The reception was charming, and we got to meet seventh-graders who had great plans for their lives,” Farrell said. “It was obvious when you went into that school that those children were being prepared for success. The children we met were well-spoken and self-assured.”

It was a lesson for both schools. “The children are the same in every environment. They are sponges and they want to succeed,” Farrell added.

The project will continue next year at Sacred Heart School. “We would like to start a friendship with St. Frances Cabrini,” Reeves said. “This project was a great way for students to understand that they can help others.”

“Somehow I feel that we have to communicate that we all have the responsibility of all the Catholic schools in the diocese, not just the parents,” Farrell said. “If we have the help of just $20 for a new library book, or $50 for a new text book, it can alleviate the burden that the schools are facing.”

To find out how you can contact your local Catholic school to see if there is something you can do to help, visit www.dioceseofbrooklyn.org/catholic_ed.

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