Dear St. Francis School Families,
Our hearts go out to the communities devastated by the tornadoes on Friday night in Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. As we enter the final week before the semester break, we keep all those impacted by the storms in our thoughts. As a compassionate school community, we want to participate in disaster relief efforts by providing our students and their families with opportunities to help tornado victims. Additionally, we want to provide resources to help our community answer the questions you may get at home from your children about this natural disaster and the many tragedies that resulted from it.
We also understand that families with younger children may need support in answering their children’s questions about these natural disasters. Giving and helping others improves mental health and encourages empathy – especially important tools for us all right now. Here are a few resources compiled by our Counselors, TuNice Cole and Julie Marks:
Resources:
Natural Disasters Helping Students Cope
Helping Children After Disaster Infographic
Restoring a Sense of Wellbeing In Children After a Disaster
Since it is also the Holiday Season, we have a number of additional organizations and drives already underway at school; while the need is great after the devastation of these horrific storms, the needs of the families that our current drives are supporting are no less great. As such, we want to do our best to support both the victims of these storms and needy families in Louisville over the holidays. Ultimately, we invite each SFS family to join us in supporting any or all of these endeavors.
Dare to Care food bank is one of the primary organizations on standby to help meet the needs of families affected by the storms, and the 1st Grade already has a drive underway to support this organization. Please continue to send in shelf-stable food items to school with your children on the Goshen Campus. They will be donated to the Dare to Care food bank, which will support both local families and those impacted by the storms.
Should your family want to donate financially to support tornado relief and recovery efforts, we suggest starting with Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund at TeamWKYReliefFund.ky.gov.
The other main drive we are doing on both campuses is supporting Bridge Builders 2 Success, which is spearheaded by High School parent Barbara Lewis. This organization supports the families of the Wayside Homeless Shelter and the single mothers and their children of the Family Scholar House. They are in particular need of support for the teens ages 13 to 16 in the program – gift cards of $10 to $20 for food, Walmart, gaming, and so on would be most appreciated. Winter coats and toys are also needed. The program currently has 78 youths to support, 33 of whom are teens. There are donation boxes on each Campus for Bridge Builders 2 Success, so please send in your donations by Friday, December 17, our last day of classes/exams.
We know that our neighbors in Western Kentucky face a long road ahead and their need for support will not be over by the start of the new year. When we return to school in January, our Service Learning Coordinators — David Word on the Downtown Campus, and Damon Powell on the Goshen Campus — will work with students and faculty to continue to find ways for Wyverns to help those in need across the state of Kentucky. Faculty will also be working to organize support for teachers impacted by the storm with digital lesson plans, sharing of ideas, and a space to ask for materials.
The Wyvern Community has always shown its compassion, and we need to do so even more during this time of great need, both due to the holiday season being upon us and the devastation so many of our western Kentucky neighbors have suffered. Please consider supporting these initiatives however you can on either campus.
Here is wishing all our Wyvern families a safe, healthy, and joyful end to 2021 and a wonderful start to 2022.
Sincerely,
Alexandra S. Thurstone G’80, ’84
Head of School