STUDENT COUNCIL PARTNERS WITH CATHOLIC CHARITIES

St. James Student Council has been busy. Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Metuchen started a pilot program with Catholic schools this year. The purpose of the program is to engage students in the area of Social Justice. Saint James is one of five schools chosen to kick off this project.

Our student council took the lead on the project. We decided to partner with Ozanam Shelter, a shelter for families who are experiencing homelessness. We decided that we wanted to give the families a “welcome home” basket to help them as they transition into permanent housing. We discussed some of the things that our own families take for granted - toothpaste, paper towels, laundry detergent, hangers, trash bags, toilet paper - and decided that we wanted to present the families with a basket full of essentials for their new homes. Before we started, however, we had a lot to learn.

One purpose of the project is that students really understand the needs of the people they are helping. Our executive board had a meeting with Mrs. Rebecca Rhoads, who is in charge of homelessness initiatives for the diocese. She told us that families become homeless for many reasons. The students were surprised to learn that most homeless families have working parents. They work hard, but may not make enough money to meet their needs. They may lose a job due to a company closing or a medical emergency. They may have one expensive emergency, such as a car repair or a medical expense, that leaves them unable to pay their rent. The thing our students took away from this is that, in many ways, these families are not very different from their own.

The next step was to educate others. Student council members spoke at Masses one weekend and collected items for our baskets the next week. They spoke to the students in school about what they had learned about homelessness. They came up with a list of items that they hoped to put in each basket, and assigned an item to each class. The response was overwhelming! Parishioners and students contributed generously. The parish Prayer Shawl Ministry learned about the project and knitted afghans so that one was included in each basket. We purchased laundry baskets and small hampers to fill with everything we had collected.

Sorting the items we had collected was a lot of work! We got everything organized and filled every basket with the things a family needs in a new home. In the end, we created twenty-five baskets to help families moving into permanent housing. We were very proud of what we had accomplished. 

We created a slide presentation to present to Mrs. Kim Chorba, who is overseeing the program for the diocese. She was very impressed with our project and our presentation. The feedback she gave us made us very proud of what we had done.

Our students learned several important lessons from this project. They learned a great deal about homelessness. They learned to speak up and advocate for others. They learned that we can make a difference in people’s lives, and that our similarities are much more significant than our differences. We are proud to have been chosen for this pilot program, and we plan to carry this into the future. In St. Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells His Disciples, “from those to whom much is given, much will be expected.” The students at Saint James are living these words through their actions.

St. James School is still accepting applications. For more information about our school or summer hours please call (732)634-0500 x301 or go to www.sj-school.org.