PORT ST. LUCIE | With the motto of “Serve the Lord with Love and Kindness,” the Holy Family Council of Catholic Women tackles a summer service project in Port St. Lucie, collecting back-to-school supplies such as backpacks and canned food for children in need attending community schools.
One of the council’s top priorities is feeding the hungry and providing clothing for the poor that is rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in the Mt 25:35-36: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me …”
The parish council received a generous gift from the local Elks Lodge 2658 July 31, which supported the council’s community service project to help struggling families.
“Several years ago, we started a school supplies drive for our local elementary and middle schools, and today the Elks Lodge on Leonard Road here in Port St. Lucie are donating 56 filled backpacks for the children in need in our community,” said Dana Adamski, Holy Family council president.
Art Lander, exalted ruler of the Elks Lodge, said the Elks raise funds through local fundraising and through grant money from the national and state Elks. Joseph D’Esposito, lecturing knight for lodge 2658, said, “I always helped provide for the community and I want to keep providing for the community, to always help the community out.”
Linda Borges, Holy Family council service chair, said, “We take food to Mariposa Elementary once a month, piles of food, mostly breakfast and cans of ravioli, and the teachers know who needs it and who is not going to eat, and who is going to be hungry, especially on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
She explained on weekends many of the children don’t have enough food to eat because the families have to pay for “rent and electricity, and the teachers know who is going to come to school on Monday hungry, and so, they put the food in their backpacks to take home.”
“Every July and August, we collect pencils and glue sticks, and backpacks are the most important. The backpacks are like gold to the children,” Borges said. “(The Elks) generously have donated 56 backpacks filled with school supplies, also used to fill with food for the needy schoolchildren for their weekend meals.”
Vivian Coleman, Elks chaplain, said, “I have been doing this for about 13 years, and I have been a chaplain for a long time. I have always volunteered wherever there is a need, and we have always given to the schools.”
Holy Family and many local parishes are collecting school supplies now as they do every year, said Lorna Beres, Holy Family’s secretary. According to the parish bulletin, “With your generosity we have helped Mariposa, Village Green Elementary and South Port Middle School.”
The parish office at Holy Family requests that school supplies be placed in boxes “at each entrance to the church, or you can bring it to the parish office.” For more information on Council of Catholic Women affiliation in your area, visit PBDCCW.org. To learn about Holy Family’s CCW, call 772-335-2385.
