It’s hard to believe we are already in the home stretch for the Sunday school year. It’s been a great year. Due to the change in service time, our attendance has gone up dramatically. It has been so much fun getting to see all these children each Sunday and welcoming all our new families. We still have some great activities and projects in the works and are looking forward to our celebration of youth and children in the end of May on Youth Sunday.

As I have frequently said, the Sunday school likes to emphasize the need to help others by giving of ourselves through our time and talents. It is always great to see the youth take this concept to heart. In March, we had two examples of how compassionate our teens have become. The confirmation class teachers developed a program for their students in which they were given money to donate any way they wished, either individually or as small groups. They were to be creative, but they also were to donate to something they felt strongly about; they also needed to report back to the class. The range of donations went from local shelters, such as the pet refuge to global charities such as funds for Haiti, and Nothing but Nets (for anti-malarial nets). While this program was going on, the middle school class was deciding where they wanted the proceeds from the pancake breakfast to be donated. After much classroom discussion, they decided that this year’s money will go to Hospice RI in support of Camp Braveheart. This camp is a free two day camp for children who are grieving over a loss of a loved one or friend. It is wonderful to see these teens really think about how they can influence the world around them by helping those in need. Thank you to the teachers for developing these special projects and guiding the students along the way. St. Paul’s is blessed to have such great teachers and youth.