Every year in the week leading up to our Christmas Break, our Sacred Heart Middle Schools students participate in a Wacky Week fundraiser to raise money for a local non-profit. In order to differentiate the fundraiser and make it more meaningful for the students themselves, students are encouraged to personally earn the money that is donated in exchange for wearing non-uniform wacky dress for a day or a week.

In just a week’s time, the Middle School raised over $1,000! After considering three very deserving organizations, the students voted overwhelmingly for Hotel Hope, a nonprofit, interfaith organization that provides housing to women and their children and supports them on their path to self-sufficiency. According to Dean of Students Nicole Janz, the students recalled Sr. Mary Lou Specha’s presentation to them last year, in which she explained the realities of homelessness in New Orleans, provided sobering statistics and clarified several misconceptions that people often have about those experiencing homelessness. Our students also remembered the many children who benefit from the services of Hotel Hope.

Before classes began on February 9, Sr. Mary Lou visited Sacred Heart under the guise of coming to meet with the students again, and they surprised her with a check for the total amount raised through their fundraiser. Speaking on behalf of the Middle School student body, members of the Student Council explained why they wanted to donate their money to Hotel Hope. Sacred Heart's Community Outreach and Partnership Coordinator Jana Fogleman and Middle School Math teacher Peggy Armstrong shared with students why they choose to volunteer at Hotel Hope and reinforced to students why service is such an important component of our Sacred Heart identity.

Sr. Mary Lou thanked the students for supporting her mission, and in parting encouraged them to continue to make the most of their fantastic education at Sacred Heart. She complimented the group of student leaders and observed that they would most certainly become women who would change the world.