“The gift bags were delightful! So kind of all of you to remember us.”
“Thank you for the thoughtful gift bags. It’s been a sad time for many of us but you and your students brightened our day. I am also so happy that you are teaching your students generosity and kindness.”
“It’s nice to know that people are thinking of us!”
“You obviously put a great deal of thought and effort into choosing fun and useful gifts. We had a great time unpacking the bags. Your thoughtfulness and generosity really touched us.”
This month middle-school students at Calumet Christian School put together over 100 gift bags for senior citizens served by an organization called Village at the Ville, part of Clintonville Resource Center (CRC). The bags included things like encouraging notes, cookies, tea, notepads, and artwork created by the students. Village at the Ville distributed the bags to older folks who have been isolated during the COVID restrictions.
Calumet teacher Cindy Botti organized the effort and says, in response, they received an out-pouring of heartfelt thank you notes from both the gift bag recipients and the distributing organization--a sampling of them is above.
William Needleman with Village at the Ville says it was, by far, the largest number of gifts ever collected for Village members. “We are in awe of your students and their families-their tremendous generosity and the thoughtfulness they put into creating the gift bags! Our members have been emailing us nonstop, expressing how much they love their gifts (especially students' thoughtful notes and lovely artwork) and asking how to thank you all.”
Cindy says the goal was to show the love of Christ to the community and give an opportunity for the students to serve others. She says many of the students did this with their families, so it was a special family project. “Students were eager to put these together. One student hand painted a picture for their person. Some were excited to bake cookies for their person.”
Great job Calumet students for sharing God’s love in a practical way to these folks!