Compassion

Preston's Annual Food Drive is officially over! Not only did we reach our goal, but we passed it! 
The Preston community gathered 12,426 points in pounds and dollars!

Thank you everybody for donating your time, money, and food! With these donations Preston's Compassion Connection was able to make the following donations:

-St. Anthony's Pantry  +/- 1300 lbs and $650
-St. Francis of Rome Pantry   +/- 1300 lbs and $650
-St. Raymond's Pantry  +/- 1300 lbs and $650
-Center of Compassion Pantry in Dover Plains - $1500

-Lamp Ministries - $1500 & 5 packages of food (from Italian Honor Society)
-Preston Center of Compassion Little Sister families - 15 packages
-Preston Center of Compassion (supermarket gift cards for families in need)  - $1500
-Santa Maria Parish - 28 packages for families in need
-Mary Clancy Foundation - +/- 650 lbs and $650

LET'S GO FOOD DRIVE PANTHERS!!!  
 

It's Operation Christmas Child Box time! Students filled boxes with toys, hygiene products, and school supplies for little boys and girls all over the world. Thank you to the Samaritan's Purse organization for allowing us this opportunity every year - to spread compassion not only beyond the Bronx, but to children across the world as well.

On October 25th, the Compassion Connection Club made 140 turkey and cheese sandwiches for Lamp Ministries to feed the hungry in the Bronx & Manhattan.  LET’S GO COMPASSION PANTHERS!

About 2 and a half weeks into the Food Drive, between monetary donations and food donations, we have 4,086 points in total! We are almost half way to our goal! Thank you to everyone who has brought in food. Keep it up! LET'S GO FOOD DRIVE PANTHERS! BRING IN FOOD!

The Compassion Connection Club is back! The biggest club in Preston kicked off their first meeting of the school year with 140 sandwiches for the hungry ministered to by Lamp Ministries and 40 candy bags and 40 cards for senior citizens from the Preston Center of Compassion! We are so happy to be back and have a strong start! Exactly 100 students were in attendance.  Let's go Compassion Panthers!

Big Sister-Little Sister is an afterschool program on Tuesdays in which selected Preston juniors are paired with 3rd grade girls from a public school in the Bronx. These girls often come from struggling families in which the parents work full time and are unavailable to help  the girls with homework. These girls are not as fortunate to have the “traditional, ideal family life."  Our Preston girls act as their “big sisters,” helping them with homework, and building relationships with them. The “big sisters” instill values such as honesty, determination, commitment, and passion in their “little sisters.” This is an amazing opportunity for girls  to have a role model, someone to aspire to be like.

Compassion Connection organized Big Sister-Little Sisters' first party of the year to celebrate Thanksgiving. Students brought in homemade baked goods for the Big and Little Sisters to share. Together they made necklaces, sang Disney songs, and danced. 

Shealin Corbett adores her “big sister” Angela Akalonu and exclaimed “this is the best day ever! I never knew school could be so much fun!” Every “little sister” went home with a thank-you card for their parents and a bag of groceries, including rice, cereal, stuffing, and cans (collected in the schoolwide food drive.) 

Compassion Connection’s Bake Sale raised $100 for the family of a Preston alumna who passed away, battling cancer. Preston’s compassion extends to everyone, especially one of our own…”Once a panther, always a panther.”

Compassion Connection collected donations from its members to fill shoeboxes with gifts for underprivileged children through Operation Christmas Child.  20 boxes were filled with little stuffed animals, boxes of crayons, hair ribbons, toothbrushes, tooth paste, bar soap, knit gloves, and candy.