Saint Paul School Service Projects
All Grades
During the week of Veterans Day, Saint Paul School collects items for veterans in our town nursing homes. We would like to help those that have served our country and give back.
During the Advent season Western Illinois Regional Council (WIRC) provides us with a list of sponsored children that need Christmas gifts. Our school families choose a family to shop for and we support 20+ families every year.
During Catholic Schools Week the whole school collects items for nursing home residents.
Preschool
Preschool students team up with the 6th grade class to participate in the Lots of Love Cereal Drive. This drive takes place in the first two weeks of February. All boxes of cereal will be distributed to families in need via the Salvation Army.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten participates in all school wide service projects. Here they begin to understand what it means to serve others and the community by giving of their time and special talents.
1st Grade
1st grade collects food for the food pantry at Thanksgiving time.
The 1st grade class will host the First Thanksgiving Play on Nov 17 at the 9:15 Mass. They will be collecting canned food items (non-perishables) for the WIU food pantry.
2nd Grade
Once a month the 2nd grade class visits Bickford Assisted Living here in Macomb. The students read to the residents, have conversations with them, color and draw, enjoy a snack, even sing to them. This is a wonderful opportunity for our youth to engage with the residents and is good for the residents as well. Everyone leaves feeling a sense of love, care and happiness. Jesus wants us to love others and we can do this by spending time with our friends at Bickford.
Our 2nd grade class hosts a Pet Blessing in October for the Feast of St. Francis. St. Francis is the patron saint of animals. We collect items for the McDonough County Animal Shelter.
Our 2nd graders also have a bake sale to raise money for our Advent service project. Parents volunteer to bake goodies and the students help bake at home and sell during school hours. The children work a shift of selling, which involves counting and making change. This gets them really involved in the project. We then use the money raised from the bake sale to shop for families in need through the WIRC Project Santa program.
3rd Grade
3rd Grade has a wonderful opportunity to visit with residents at Wesley Village. We will do crafts, and other various activities with our new friends throughout the year.
4th Grade
We are working on three service projects in fourth grade.
Adopted Grandparent at the Elms: We meet monthly with the Elm residents and play games, work on creative projects. or perform for the residents.
Pill Bottle Project: Students are cleaning empty, used pill bottles. These bottles are shipped to Africa so that aid agencies can distribute medicines properly.
Christmas Bears: Students create and sew stuffed bears to donate to WIRC at Christmas for children.
5th Grade
During Catholic Schools Week the fifth graders put on the carnival for the younger children we do a food drive to benefit the WIU food pantry.
6th Grade
We hold an annual coats for kids drive where we solicit money and then buy coats for kids in McDonough County distributed by WIRC. 20+ coats are donated.
We set up and tear down the gym for all funeral lunches.
We set up the gym for the fish fry.
We put the covers on the new Breaking Bread hymnals for the new liturgical year.
Also new this year (2023) 6th Grade helped build beds for "Sleep in Heavenly Peace". They provide beds and bedding to children in need.
