Yesterday afternoon, several of our middle students stayed after school to work on assembling “Brian Bags” –  special care kits designed with members of the local homeless community in mind.  Through this special mission of Mrs. Donna Finneran (who has been to our school on numerous occasions to speak with our students and joined us again yesterday) and using supplies purchased by our local Knights of Columbus, the students completed over 150 bags.

Donna is the founder of the Brian O’Connell Homeless Project, a ministry she began several years ago after the tragic death of her twin bother.  Her brother, Brian, began suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and homelessness as a result of witnessing the events of 9/11 while working in NYC.  Donna always reminds us that every homeless person is someone’s loved one and are deserving of our respect and compassion.

As in years past, Saint James School has a large quantity of the assembled bags in the office and would like your help getting them out to those in need.  For any families that tend to encounter members of the homeless community in their travels, if you would like to participate in distributing Brian Bags, please complete THIS FORM and we will send them with your student(s) tomorrow.

As always, we wish to emphasize when handing out the bags, please use the phrase, “Could you use a hand up today?” This helps your intended recipient maintain their dignity when accepting your offer of help.