Every year, the junior class participates in a class-wide service project that aims to “bring Christmas” to over 100 under-privileged kids. The project, led by counselor Paul McDaniel and the Jesuit organization PALS (Peer Assistance and Leadership), requires that students bring in gifts to be donated to underprivileged children.
In the program, two juniors are paired to bring gifts for one child in need. Both students purchase separate gifts with an average retail value of $10-15 for the child in order to make Christmas morning a more memorable experience.
To coordinate the effort, a member of PALS is responsible for managing each junior homeroom at Jesuit. These members manage, track and lead the project, while also delivering the gifts to Mr. McDaniel in the Junior Commons.
The PALS service project proves to be extremely important, McDaniel said, because it gives gifts to older children, who typically won’t receive much through other organizations that donate Christmas gifts. “No one ever has any trouble getting gifts for the small kids that are under twelve years old,” says Mr. McDaniel; projects like Angel Tree have “plenty of people” to bring gifts for younger children. “It’s just that no one thinks about teenage boys, whether or not they are going to have Christmas or not. We are just trying to provide them with the same type of experience that our guys are going to get on Christmas morning – they are going to get to open gifts.”
In addition, it is of utmost importance that the juniors bring in their gifts because “there is not someone else that we give the list over to and say ‘we were able to get these kids, you guys will have to do these other twenty kids.’ It’s either we provide them with something or they don’t get anything,” said McDaniel. As one can see, participation in this project can have profound implications in a child’s life.
With that in mind, the project proved to be more successful than ever this year as the Junior class was charged with the task of making Christmas better for 180 kids, the most in the project’s twelve year career. In fact, the CPS Christmas Project was initially only responsible for 72-75 kids.
The senior class helped this year because “we had an extra list of about twenty kids,” said McDaniel. While few brought in gifts within the first days of the project, the gifts eventually began to accumulate in larger numbers in the Junior Commons where the gifts were stored.
The project eventually concluded on December 14, 2011, and members of PALS transported the gifts to the Dallas County Department of Family and Protective Services Office located off North Stemmons Freeway. Juniors such as Eric Futscher, Zach Coker, Jesus Mathus and Austin Huth all assisted in the transportation of the gifts. In addition, members moved the gifts to a specific room in the building that housed the gifts.
Nearly every student in the grade brought in one gift, most brought in two gifts, and some even brought in three gifts, something Mr. McDaniel was “very pleased with.” In fact, only five students failed to bring gifts in the junior class. “It’s just a good indication, particularly this time of year, when there is so much going on that involves yourself – finals, getting ready for assessments, and grades – to be able stop and do something for someone who is not at Jesuit.”
Overall, this year’s CPS Christmas Project was successful to say the least. For example, Eric Futscher, a member of PALS, said that, “the junior Christmas project was a great experience.” Best of all, “the project benefited kids who would normally receive nothing for Christmas,” and that Eric was “honored to help make a kid happy this Christmas.” Zach Coker, also a proud member of PALS, was extremely impacted by the project. “The CPS Christmas Project really helped me to realize how fortunate I am,” says Zach. Additionally, Zach believes that “the drive really showed what the Jesuit motto Men For Others is all about,” because “without the help of the PALS and the Jesuit Juniors, most of these kids would not have a Christmas.” Jesuit looks forward to another CPS Christmas project next year.
