Greater Love Community Outreach

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends”

– John 15:13 

What is Greater Love? Greater Love is Saint Bernadette School’s social outreach initiative that invites all students, teachers, staff and school families to enact Catholic social teaching. Through a variety of service activities supporting community partners and special interests selected by our students, we hope everyone will deepen their compassion, gratitude, and commitment to social justice as they live their faith through service. 

Who is behind Greater Love? In 2012, school parents Kate Rodgers and Jennifer Curtain founded Greater Love as students sought opportunities to participate in service activities to support charitable organizations. You can read more about the initial idea and inspiration in this article. Each year since, a group of committed parent volunteers has coordinated Greater Love activities in collaboration and partnership with the entire school community.

What activities does Greater Love sponsor each year?

• Donation Drives: Greater Love coordinates several donation drives each year. For example, during the 2022-2023 school year, Greater Love sponsored the following:
  • Stuffed animal drive for pediatric cardiac patients served by Por Cristo in Ecuador
  • Coat drive benefiting local families via Linkages to Learning
  • Thanksgiving drive supporting the Father McKenna Center's distribution of turkeys and food baskets to those experiencing food insecurity 
  • Diaper and baby wipe drive in conjunction with the Christ Child Society
  • Lenten Rice Bowl collection to support the poor locally and globally through Catholic Relief Services
• On- and off-campus service activities:
  • At least 2 Saturdays per year, SBS families volunteer together at A Wider Circle.
  • On Martin Luther King, Jr Day, Greater Love coordinates a service activity in which all families are encouraged to participate. In the past, families have frequently made bagged lunches and casseroles at home to support Shepherd's Table.
  • Students participate during the school day in efforts to spread goodwill to the community, such as by creating Caring Cards for residents of local assisted living facilities.
  • Students, faculty/staff, and parents assist with organizing, delivering, and distributing items collected through our donation drives.
• Tag Days:
  • For the current school year, Greater Love tag days will generally occur on the first Thursday of the month and the third Tuesday.
  • Tag days are completely optional, and not required.
  • A $1 donation to the dedicated charity is suggested, but students can particpate and dress out of uniform without a donation.
  • Once a year, each grade level from K-8 selects a cause to support through a tag day. This encourages discussion and awareness of social justice issues in the classroom.
  • Quarterly tag days support efforts to battle food insecurity in our community. In particular, we have been working with St. Camillus Food Pantry in Silver Spring.
  • Pop-up tag days respond to urgent needs locally and globally.
• Education:
  • Educational activities focus on increasing our students’ understanding of social justice issues in our community, country, and world and of local Catholic organizations that provide services, support, and advocacy.
  • These activities includes in-school assemblies and presentations at service locations.
• Angel Network and Angel Pennies
  • • Greater Love coordinates a fund to help all SBS families with small to large needs like uniforms, CYO fees, field trip fees, eyeglasses, shoes, or any other expenses that a family may incur for their child to participate fully in their St. Bernadette School experience.
    • Please reach out to Principal Ted Ewanciw ([email protected]) if your family needs any kind of assistance; he will keep all requests confidential between himself and the family.
    • Students and their families are encouraged to leave pennies and other small donations in the Angel Pennies container in the school lobby. 
• SBS Uniform Closet
  Our goal is to keep all students in uniform compliance and remove any stress or worry if a student is in need of a uniform part. Students and staff can access the closet through the school day, located in the School Hall. We also have request forms we will check weekly if the closet is without an item and Greater Love will work to fill that need. 
   
• Interested in working with the committee, want to suggest an activity, or have a question?
  • Please email the committee: [email protected]
  • Or reach out to one of the 2022-2023 Co-chairs:
    • Susan Klauda ([email protected])
    • Meg McNally [email protected]
    • Fabiola Mendivil-Smith ([email protected])

Thank you to the SBS community for their continuing support of Greater Love's efforts to help address the needs of our local and global neighbors!