Holy Redeemer School held a food drive on Monday, Sept. 12, to benefit the Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB). Touched by the stories of the victims of Hurricane Katrina and told that the food bank could provide these victims with food they needed, the fourth-graders came together in just one week to put together a school-wide food drive. They created posters to advertise the drive; made calls reminding the families of the drive; collected, boxed and sorted the items collected; and took a bus to the ACFB to see how their donations would be put to use. Some hurricane survivors fortunate enough to have family in the area helped with the drive, as well as the parents of a new student relocating from Louisiana because of the devastation.

These families, along with the entire school, collected approximately 10,000 pounds of food for distribution to those in need. At the food drive, monetary donations were also collected. These totaled over $3,000 and were given to Catholic Charities for use in aiding those affected by the hurricane.

Along with the food drive, a Mass was held on Wednesday, Sept. 14, for the hurricane victims. Several relatives of Holy Redeemer families who were affected participated in the Mass, offering the prayers of petition. Father Brian Small, of St. Catherine of Siena Church, Kennesaw, and Father Mark Raphael, a priest whose parish was in the heavily flooded St. Bernard parish in New Orleans, concelebrated the Mass.

After Communion, Father Raphael spoke about the destruction of his parish and the importance of looking at the changes in life, big and small, as part of the journey toward heaven, “our real home.”