OZONE PARK — On March 31, students from St. Elizabeth Catholic Academy in Ozone Park joined forces with students from Blessed Sacrament Catholic Academy in Cypress Hills to create Kindness Packages for St. Teresa of Avila’s food pantry.
“It was a nice experience to work with other schools to help other people because, as Catholic schools, we’re meant to serve God, and the way we [do that] is by helping other people,” said Kamila Ceteno, an eighth grader at St. Elizabeth.
The effort brought together the academies’ seventh and eighth graders, who assembled the packages in the school gym with personal hygiene essentials such as soap, toothpaste, and toothbrushes, as well as treats like chips and Oreos.
Once completed, the packages, each of which was donated by a student, were sent down to the fifth and sixth graders waiting in the cafeteria, who added handwritten notes of encouragement.
The care packages were then delivered to the St. Teresa of Avila food pantry in South Ozone Park for distribution to those in need.
Milany Reyes, a fifth grader at Blessed Sacrament, included two messages of encouragement on the Kindness Packages: “God is always with you” and “Everything is going to be ok no matter what happens.”
“You never know when somebody might be feeling discouraged, and my words [can] actually help them,” Milany said.
Blessed Sacrament Principal Andy Estevez said it’s the perfect time for the project.
“During Holy Week, when we remember the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and Jesus gave himself to us in the Eucharist and the Crucifixion on Good Friday,” Estevez said. “Doing these simple acts of charity really resembles his footsteps and his love, kindness, compassion to us all.”
Estevez said the idea was to teach the two schools the importance of the Lenten season — specifically, the Lenten focus on almsgiving.
By day’s end, the students made over a hundred packages. When they finished, they went to the academy’s parish for a prayer service.
“It’s important because Christ wanted us to help others and by doing this, we are living the way God wanted us to,” said Josiah Campbell, an 8th grader at Blessed Sacrament. “It was really fun packaging because we felt good knowing that they were going to someone in need.”
