St. Christopher boxes up Christmas joy for Cross Catholic
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For many years St. Christopher School in Metairie has participated in Cross Catholic Outreach’s “Box of Joy” program to send Christmas gifts to children in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Grenada, Honduras and Malawi.
This year, 352 students from the school filled, packed and sent 49 boxes to these countries.
“This project requires all hands on deck and can’t be done by just one class,” said Lisa Moree, St. Christopher’s catechetical leader and middle-school religion teacher. “All of our religion teachers from the 3-year-old classes through seventh grade participate.”
Each student is asked to donate $3, and then older students and several teachers use that money to shop for items, on a list provided by Cross Catholic, to fill the boxes. This year the school raised approximately $700 for the project.
“We shopped for items like simple hygiene products, sunglasses, water bottles, crayons, coloring books, dolls, superhero stuff, stickers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair things, socks and T-shirts, little sack backpacks and stuffed animals,” Moree said.
The service project is designed to have students “practice corporal works of mercy during the holiday season and help other people who are less fortunate,” Moree said.
According to Cross Catholic Outreach’s website, the Box of Joy ministry builds a bridge between the local Catholic parish or school and the families who receive the gifts.
“The teachers and the kids all work hand in hand on this project, and it’s really magical,” Moree said. “We let the students fill the boxes with supervision. It’s such a giving and rewarding experience at the same time.”
“I like to do Box of Joy because it gives kids in another country who are less fortunate than myself, a gift for Christmas,” said fifth-grader Brenna Driskill. “Everyone should be happy at Christmas.”
St. Christopher’s mission club also helps with the Box of Joy project. Students assemble the boxes, which arrive flat and have to be built. The boxes are stored in the mission club closet for the classes to pick up and fill when needed. Additionally, teachers, families and past students also pick up boxes and bring them home to fill them.
“It has become a school and community project over the years,” Moree said. “Everyone wants to help out and be a part of it. Past students want boxes because they remember doing the service project when they were in school. We’ve even had families and faculty members contribute money toward this project, which is very generous of them.”
St. Christopher vice principal Crystal Constantine, who attended the school as a child, said the Box of Joy program is a reminder to her “that the smallest acts of kindness can have the biggest impact – and our students are at the heart of this beautiful experience.”
Cross Catholic Outreach said the gift-giving initiative delivers hand-packed Christmas presents worldwide, “allowing children to experience Christ’s love.”
Sixth-grader Harper Audibert said she likes donating to and assisting with the Box of Joy project, and she said her family also takes a box home to fill and return.
“We do this to help other children,” she said.
St. Christopher began working on the project at the beginning of October so that all the boxes would be ready to be mailed by the beginning of November.
“I like Box of Joy because it gives children something for Christmas who are less fortunate than myself,” said seventh-grader Logan Hesse. “I’ve done this for years, and it makes me feel good.”