DECEMBER NEWSLETTER
As we soon enter the final month of 2019, we wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. No matter what our situation, let us always strive to be grateful to God for our lives and loved ones.
Our virtue for the month of December is Charity. Let us be bold in moving beyond the contemporary understanding of charity as “giving money to the poor.” Giving money might be one expression of showing love and concern for others, but it falls short of what Josef Pieper called “the overwhelming vastness of the subject.” Children should come to appreciate that true charity involves empathy, making the good of the other our own, and feeling the well-being of the other as well as the well-being of oneself.
In this spirit, we wish to thank those of you who donated food items during our Food Drive. Today two of our middle school students packed up these items and brought them to St. Peter’s Haven Food Pantry where they will be used for needy families in the area on Thanksgiving.
Next Wednesday-Friday, Dec. 4-6, is our annual Scholastic Book Fair. We encourage you to come and browse around for some children’s books. They make great holiday gifts! In preparation for the Book Fair and in line with New Hope’s promotion of reading, in November we launched our second annual 99Pledges fundraiser. As of this writing, the school has raised $1,370 with 26% of families participating so far. It’s still not too late to contribute! We encourage you to invite your relatives, friends, co-workers, and other acquaintances to sponsor your child as he/she reads a certain number of books this month. The fundraiser comes to an end this Saturday, Nov. 30.
If your child is in 3rd grade or above, we hope you will support his/her involvement in our annual Spelling Bee, being held the morning of Friday, December 20. We will be choosing ten finalists who will then compete in January for the honor of becoming this year’s spelling champion and represent New Hope School in the regional spelling bee in March.
We also look forward to seeing you at our annual Winter Concert the day before, Thursday, December 19, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. This year’s program will include songs from each of our classes, pieces from our dance class, a skit, winners of our poetry and essay contest reading their entrees on the topic “Charity,” plus a visit from a plump old man in a red suit.
Wishing you Happy Holidays and an even Happier New Year!
New Hope School Staff
“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
Maya Angelou