“God’s love is unbounded. It has no limits,” Pope Francis has been quoted as saying.
That love was on display Jan. 17 as Catholic school students from around the Diocese lived out the Catholic tenet of service, taking a “day on, not a day off.”
In honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, held annually on the third Monday in January, Catholic school students of all ages and grades worked on projects to help their local communities.
At Camden Catholic High School, for example, students made blankets and collected donations for the homeless in conjunction with Joseph’s House of Camden, as well as wrote letters to deployed servicemen and women.
In addition to a prayer service, Resurrection Catholic School, Cherry Hill, youngsters collected supplies, wrote notes and filled backpacks with school supplies for Afghan children being housed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix- Lakehurst.
Guardian Angels Regional School, Paulsboro, students collected items such as books, backpacks, pens, toiletries and baby supplies for foster families.
And at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Regional School, Berlin, community outreach included collecting books for hospitalized children, creating breakfast bags for the hungry in Atlantic City and creating scarves for those in need of warmth.
Photos by Dave Hernandez
Andrea Rybacki and her second-grade class in Berlin hold breakfast bags destined for those in need in Atlantic City.Jen LaRosa, director of campus ministry for Camden Catholic High School, helps students fill a box with toiletries at the school for the Cherry Hill Food Pantry on Jan. 17, the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.Camden Catholic sophomore Katie Brown ties cloth together to make a blanket.Cody Sauer packs a bag for a foster child at Guardian Angels Regional School, PaulsboroSister Jerilyn Einstein, FMIJ, principal at Guardian Angels Regional School, Paulsboro, helps Gianna Sebastian pack a backpack for a foster child.Fifth-grader Darius Rivera fills a bag with school supplies at Resurrection Catholic School, Cherry Hill.
Fifth-grader William Turner of Resurrection Catholic School writes a note for Afghan children being housed in New Jersey.
Students in Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, Berlin, knit scarves during the Day of Service
For dozens of more photos, visit the Catholic Star Herald’s photo gallery at catholicstarherald.org/photos.