The liturgical season of Lent offers us a time to ponder our spiritual well-being. As we pray the Stations, contemplating the passion of Jesus, we look forward to His resurrection. We are also emerging from the dark days of winter, looking for signs of spring. We carry out our Lenten activities of prayer, fasting and alms-giving with joy and hope.
Report cards are in your children’s backpacks today. Take time to review the results with your child. Congratulate them on their progress and set goals for the final trimester. Encourage your student to finish the year with an academic flourish. Congratulations are also in order for our 8th-grade students who have been accepted into our local Catholic High Schools, including a number who were awarded scholarships and acceptance with honors.
Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night. Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend and with it the excitement for the Auction. Get your green ready. It’s going to be a grand time! Online bidding starts this Monday.
Shake Your Shamrock this Auction by making a gift to the 2023 Fund-a-Need. The school play-pit is in need of updates. Your generous gift to Fund-a-Need will provide new, age-appropriate play structures, lush synthetic playground grass and an engineered pad system for fall protection. Additionally, the play-pit will be expanded to include an octagonal gaga ball pit for friendly competition among all grade levels.
The school’s current play-pit, named in honor of Seattle Police Officer and St. John graduate, Jackson Lone, includes a nautical theme. Officer Lone was part of the Seattle Harbor Unit and died in the line of duty. A group of St. John parents from the class of 1980 came together to organize, fundraise and construct the Jackson Lone Memorial Playground. The project was opened and dedicated in 2006.
It is time to carry on this tradition of service. This year’s Fund-a-Need goal for the playground upgrade is $175,000. Total anticipated costs for the project will approach $300,000. Let’s start the process of giving our students new and safe modern play structures and a play field that will leave a legacy for future generations of St. John students while also honoring the service and legacy of Officer Jackson Lone.
Get ready to raise those paddles! And thank you for your generous support – in all ways – of St. John School.
Bernadette O’Leary
