‘Tis the Christmas Season; Advent Families

‘Tis the Christmas Season; Advent Families
Posted on 12/08/2017
Christmas sceneWritten by Abigale McCulloch, Student Journalist

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School (STS) in Tottenham, is built upon Catholic values and is very active in the community. Every year around Christmas, STS staff and students collect money, unopened gifts, and gift cards for different families assigned to each homeroom. Around the Christmas season it is hard for these families to buy gifts for their children, so STS works together to support the Advent Families during the holidays.

In our tight knit community we always make sure to abide to the STS mission statement - “Our mission at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School is to provide a caring and sharing environment where Catholic beliefs and gospel values are practised and reinforced. Students will be provided with opportunities for growth to ensure personal success as citizens of a local and global community.”

It is important for the students to get involved with society and to feel good about all of the amazing things they are capable of. Student Adrian R. states, “The holiday season is filled with warmth and joy, therefore we need to insure that all families have that feeling.”

Students at STS have been doing the Advent Families fundraiser since before 1999 and every year the approximate total raised is $3,000 dollars, all to support local families.
It is so important to make a difference in the world. STS students and teachers are dedicated to helping these families out at Christmas.

STS Chaplin Mrs. M. Whelton, spoke passionately about the importance of the donations. “The families we help are local families that are in desperate situations. We may not be able to help them find the jobs they need, or fight off the cancer or illness they are suffering from, or bring back the parent who has left them alone to raise the kids, but we can help put a smile on the faces of the children on Christmas morning. We can help them have a good healthy meal with maybe some leftovers. We can help them pay for some things to make their lives a little easier. In a love beyond measure God gave us the gift of his Son, born in poverty, born in a stable on Christmas morning. Most of us have been blessed with comfortable lives; we will get up Christmas morning and receive lots of gifts and eat way more than is good for us. It seems important to share a little of the same kind of love that God has shown us, the same kind of good fortune with which we have been blessed, with those struggling to make ends meet. On that one day, such a wonderful day, it seems right to help others have some of their worries alleviated.”

By each doing something small and participating in this worthy event, STS students are changing Christmas for less fortunate families. All children should have an amazing and happy holiday season and that is, and always has been, the goal. For the students it is fulfilling to know that we, a small but mighty school in Tottenham, can make a difference for families on Christmas.