Katelyn Kmiotek '26
On December 15, the members of the Scholars Society took a trip to Learning Connection in Brentwood, NY. During this trip, the members wrapped Barbie Dolls and toy cars to give to the women that are learning English here at Brentwood. The toys were for them to give to their children on Christmas morning.
This program was started by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1994 to help women who were undereducated. Some of the women in this program needed to learn to speak English in order to get a job to provide for their families, whereas others needed to learn English in order to receive a highschool diploma. They currently have 13 classes of women and around 240 students.
Sister Kathleen Carberry was the founder of this program. She retired 5 years ago from the ministry, but still comes to help out with the program. After having a conversation, Sr. Kathleen said, “ I think that it is wonderful to help so many women who can't afford to put gifts under the tree for their children!” By the end of the day, the scholars had wrapped enough gifts to provide every student 1-2 gifts per person!
Morgan Gonzalez ‘26 had worked with Sister Maria to organize this trip for the scholars. The trip was a little close to home for Morgan. Her grandparents were immigrants, and they had to make life out of the little resources that they had. After learning about this program, Morgan felt a connection and decided it would be great if we could give back to the community, and she couldn’t have been more right!
After all the wrapping, cutting and taping, it was truly amazing to see the smiles on their faces, knowing that their kids will have at least one gift under the tree when they wake up on Christmas morning, and that is the true meaning of the season of giving.
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