By Steve Stoner
For Proclaim!
When the student leaders of the Saint Matthew School entrepreneurial business, The Rescue Aid, began discussing ideas for their first service project, wanting to say thank you to area first responders was at the top of the list.
“We wrote down all the people who help keep us safe and thought it would be fun to invite them for lunch,” said business CEO Nadia Jeffries. “I didn’t know that they are all first responders so once we learned that we decided to use that as the title for our lunch. It is called First Responder Appreciation Lunch.”
The list of first responders included Tyrone Police, AMED, the borough mayor and manager, and all four area fire companies: Bald Eagle, Hookies, Neptune, and Warriors Mark. The students met with the School Principal to work out details for the lunch.
“We picked Friday, November 15, and made invitations to send to the responders,” CFO Elyana Hewitt added. “Our guests will eat with all the students so that we can get to know them better and learn about what they do to protect our town. After lunch they get to have recess with us, too.”
“The goal of our student business is to serve others as Jesus has taught us to do,” explained advisor Steve Stoner. “As a service company, any project or profits made are all given to a charity. In this case it is a chance to let these people and organizations, who are the key to us living in a safe community, know that we appreciate their efforts on our behalf. It also is an opportunity for these young businesspeople to learn how to plan an event, set and work within a budget, and meet deadlines which are essential life skills.”
The company’s Public Relations Specialist, Lucy Hawthorne, coordinated the creation of posters to decorate the lunch area. “We wanted to make posters and also little gift bags. It is really fun to make things for people. We (all students) are going to bake cookies next week for our dessert.”Â
“The desire these students have to help others and their drive to get things done is such a wonderful thing to see,” commented Principal Pauline Wiley. “All of our students from preschool to fifth grade are looking forward to this special lunch and we are anxious to welcome the first responders to Saint Matthew School.”
[Photo: Saint Matthew School students are busy making posters for their First Responder Appreciation Lunch.]
