On March 29, 400 juniors at Marist High School, 4200 W. 115th St., participated in a national day of service marking the 200th anniversary of the school’s sponsoring congregation by packing 108,864 meals that will feed 298 children for an entire year. The school worked with the charity Feed My Starving Children to coordinate the event.Students donned white hairnets and plastic gloves and packed dried rice, soy and vegetables in small bags, sealed them and put them into boxes to be shipped. The meals are distributed around the world. Marist-sponsored schools across the nation participated in the service day. “I think this is one of the best things we have ever done,” said Marist President Brother Hank Hammer. The school frequently encourages the students to “get out of themselves,” he said, and see what other people around the world go through just to survive day to day. The school raised the $25,000 needed to host the event when campus minister Patrick Meyer spent 36 hours straight swinging on a swing set at the school last fall. Many of the students said they had fun while helping people in need. “I think it’s really cool how we were able to get so many people involved around one thing,” said senior Ann Pellegrini, who helped organize the event. Junior Kaleb Weisenfluh agreed. “There’s an actual difference being made,” he said. “Doing good is good to do.”
‘We’ve been schools of mercy for many years’ You can ask just about any Catholic school principal what his or her students are doing to spread mercy in the world. Just make sure you have a comfortable chair and maybe a cup of coffee, because the answers tend to go...