Saint Vincent de Paul School brings Christmas cheer

IC photo by Marie Mischel

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Representatives from Saint Vincent de Paul School's sixth-grade class pose with gifts they donated as part of the Sub for Santa program.

SALT LAKE CITY - From playing the part of Santa's elves to caroling at senior centers, students at Saint Vincent de Paul School are bringing Christmas cheer to their community.

Traditionally, the school participates in the Sub for Santa program with the parish, but this year, they took on 10 additional families at the request of Father Michael Sciumbato at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, said Assistant Principal Gary Green.

For the Sub for Santa program, only gifts for the children are requested, not for the adults. The first priority is clothing for the children, Green said, and the second is food for Christmas dinner. The family receiving the gifts can also make special requests, and Green said Saint Vincent students were able to fulfill many of these requests, including two bicycles donated by the sixth-grade class.

The children not only collected and wrapped the gifts, but some also helped deliver them to the families. This provides them with the opportunity to get outside themselves and see how poverty affects people, said Principal Mark Longe. "The kids will come back and go, ‘Oh my gosh, they didn't even have any furniture in their house, they didn't have a Christmas tree.' Then they see what true charity really is."

Students also have met weekly for Advent services, with the kindergartners leading the prayers. This gives a religious experience outside of Mass, Longe said.

Other holiday projects including making gingerbread houses, which then were displayed in the school hallway and caroling at local senior centers.

The students make regular visits to the centers throughout the year, but at Christmas they lead a sing-along under the direction of music teacher Scott Larrabee, Longe said. In addition to an activity that the children enjoy, it allows them to build inter-generational relationships, he added. "Just like older people sometimes have stereotypes of younger people, younger people have stereotypes of older people, if they're not around them," he said, and the visits give the opportunity to teach students how to act around the elderly.

The students also made a donation for the Christmas Box House, and a select group then delivered the donation, toured the facility and reported back to their classes. School officials hope this sort of experience will teach the children to become good stewards. "We don't want them just signing checks when they're adults, we want them making good choices for the charities they choose," Longe said.