Student Life Group

“We pledge to spread the belief that all life is precious and deserves respect.” This statement summarizes the heart and mission of the St. Christopher School Life Group.The eighth graders who join this after school service group enjoy being together while they energetically dedicate themselves to various projects that support life.

Organizations and individuals that benefit from Life Group projects include Children’s Medical Center, Elizabeth New Life Center, Dayton Right to Life, Care House, Kairos Prison Ministry, Project Linus, students who are ill, and more.

One favorite activity is baking cookies for the parish Respect Life Committee consignment sale. The students bring cookie dough to school and then spend a couple of hours after school baking, tasting, cooling, bagging, and labeling the cookies.  Usually 500 – 800 cookies are baked.  The proceeds from the sale go to the Respect Life Committee.

Life Group members make blankets for Project Linus, a nonprofit organization that gives blankets to children suffering from illness or a catastrophic event. This year we made a blanket for a third grade student who is dealing with a long term illness. Last year the students made a blanket for a peer’s mother who was dying.  Always a prayer and blessing are said over the blanket and for the one receiving it. Each year about a dozen blankets are made.

The Life Group holds baby food drives to help Elizabeth New Life Center and Dayton Right to Life.  They also make Build-A-Bear toys, pray for those who will receive them, and take them directly to Children’s Medical Center for the young patients there.

The Life Group makes handmade ornaments to decorate a Christmas tree for the Sugarplum Festival, the fundraising event for Children’s Medical Center. Other service projects have included activities that support Ronald McDonald House, Catholic Social Services, and American Veterans.

Last year the Life Group is making memorial bracelets, designed by Mrs. Shira, in honor of Mrs. Pignatiello who lost her five-year battle with colon cancer on December 15, 2010.

One Life Group member summarized his experience very well when he said, “It is a way of being together, not because we are forced to be, but because we want to help others, and we have a lot of fun doing it.”
Donations to the Life Group support all these activities. Love Life!