Thanks to the efforts of Padua Franciscan and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin high schools, the holiday season was brighter for those in need.
At Padua, the school community organized its 51st annual Christmas for Others event, the largest student-run fundraiser in Northeast Ohio. The event is sponsored, organized and operated by Padua students under the direction of the school’s Key (Kiwanis) Club. Since its inception in 1971, CFO has raised about $500,000 for charity.
The annual Coin Wars competition is part of CFO. This year’s Coin Wars raised $8,309 for the needy in less than 20 minutes with all of the proceeds donated to local charities, including homeless shelters, food pantries and other worthy causes.
Among the beneficiaries this year were A Special Wish, Advent for Others/All Faiths Pantry, Birthcare of Medina County, Catholic Worker House, El Salvador Mission Trip (COAR), Journey Center for Safety and Healing, Kid’s Book Bank, Matt Talbot Inn, May Dugan Center, Parma Animal Shelter, Parma Hunger Center, Promise for Haiti, Providence House, St. Francis School in Cleveland, St. Herman’s in Cleveland, SubZero Mission, West Side Catholic Center and the Bishop William Cosgrove Center.
During the Coin Wars, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors and faculty/staff competed against each other to raise the most money. Students brought bags of coins and cash they saved from loved ones throughout the year. The class that raises the most money for charity wins. This year’s bragging rights belong to the senior class.
In addition to the Coin Wars, CFO raised an additional $15,000 to $20,000 for the needy. Students organized a spaghetti dinner and other fundraisers as well as collecting thousands of items including food, clothing, books and toys for the under privileged. The donations were distributed to worthy causes in Greater Cleveland after the annual CFO Mass on Dec. 16.
Padua Franciscan, a 750-student co-ed, college preparatory school sponsored by the Franciscans, was founded in 1961. It is located in Parma.
NDCL helped brighten Christmas for more than 100 children at St. Francis School in Cleveland this year.
“Our students’ enthusiastic response to our Advent Giving Tree project enabled us to deliver dozens of beautifully wrapped gifts for the children of St. Francis School,” said Halle McKeon, director of campus ministry at NDCL.
They also delivered 55 fleece blankets for the St. Francis students.
NDCL was formed in 1987 when the Sisters of Notre Dame invited the Cathedral Latin High School Alumni Association to join them in forming the co-ed high school. Cathedral Latin, an all-boys school in Cleveland, was opened as a Marianist school in 1916. It closed in 1979 but the alumni association continued to pursue avenues in order to reopen the school.
Notre Dame Academy, which was an all-girls school, traces its roots to 1878, four years after the Sisters of Notre Dame arrived in the Diocese of Cleveland. The academy moved to Ansel Road in Cleveland in 1915 as its enrollment grew. In 1963, it moved to Munson Township in Geauga County where the sisters had a large piece of property.
NDCL, which has an enrollment of about 700, is overseen by a board of directors and the school boasts 4,600 alumni.