Mount Mercy Academy’s students and staff continued to be busy serving the community during the month of November.  One of the missions of Mount Mercy Academy is compassionate service. This mission was well met in November as the school assisted at places such as St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy, Journey’s End and Ronald McDonald House. Once again Campus Minister and senior theology teacher Mary Colby is asking members of the senior class to plan and coordinate a service project.  Projects are picking up steam, as seven seniors initiated service projects and the school also had four other service activities.   

The month started with annual Sophomore Pie Party for Journey’s End. The sophomores bought supplies; grocery shopped, made pie crusts from scratch, and baked 13 apple pies.  Seniors Evelyn Nowak (Orchard Park) and Hannah Dierolf (West Seneca) helped out by making chocolate chip cookies. The pies and cookies were a big hit at the Journey’s End Thanksgiving Feast.  

November 8th the faculty and staff spent the day on retreat. They were divided into small groups and spent the morning volunteering at six different community partner sites in the City of Buffalo and visited immigrant run restaurants for lunch. 

    Dierolf organized an event at the Burchfield Nature and Art Center.  She and her group spent the afternoon creating cards for cancer patients through the Send a Smile Today program. 

Students and staff prepared a dinner of chicken enchiladas, lime cilantro rice, fruit kabobs and apple crisp at the Ronald McDonald House.  

Senior Amanda Songin (Springville) organized a card making event for patients at Children’s Hospital.  Students from all four grades as well as some staff members participated.

Bridget Whelan (West Seneca), a senior, organized a blanket making event. Whelan and her volunteers created blankets for patients at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and also made Thanksgiving and Christmas cards to be distributed at Roswell.  Once again, there were volunteers from all four grades, as well as members of the staff.

Some students spent an afternoon with the Sisters of Mercy at the Mercy Center creating Thanksgiving crafts.  

Senior Grace Harrington (West Seneca) led a service group at the St. Vincent de Paul Society Food Drive.  Harrington and her volunteers helped to deliver food to families in need.  

Jenna Shalloe a senior from West Seneca led a group of volunteers at the Rock Out Hunger event at the Food Bank of WNY. The event provided turkeys and other foods to help families celebrate Thanksgiving.  

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving seniors Jillian Kotwica of Orchard Park and Jessica Shaw of Buffalo led service groups at St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy.  The two seniors and a team of senior volunteers helped with the group’s prodigious Thanksgiving Food Bag distribution.

    Mount Mercy is selling Trees to support the Laudato Tree project, a collaborative effort of Mercy schools, to support the Great Green Wall.  The Great Green Wall is sponsored by the United Nations and will create a line of trees across Sub Saharan Africa, stretching from Senegal to Djibouti. The trees will help to fight against deforestation and climate change.  They make a great Christmas gift and ten dollars will purchase a tree for the Great Green Wall. Trees may be purchased in the school office or by sending a check to the school office. A card will be sent to you for each tree purchased.

The Mount Mercy community continues to follow Catherine McAuley’s vision of compassionate service and affirming the dignity and uniqueness of individuals.