To celebrate 100 Days of School, students from Our Lady of Perpetual Help spent part of the cloudy and cold Saturday morning on Jan. 28 in service to the community.
“We want to feed as many as we can,” said Orlando Salazar, a second year principal at OLPH with 33 years of education under his belt. He came up with the idea of giving away 100 spaghetti lunches to celebrate 100 Days of School. He saw it as an opportunity for his students to see that selfless service is an essential value of the culture at OLPH.
As cars were waved down by parents and students and directed through the parking lot to the front of the school, upbeat 80’s tunes played from a speaker, and the Eaglets cheering squad jumped with excitement. Designated runners safely delivered a lunch plate and bottled water to each person in each car that drove up.
Of the 20 parents volunteering that morning, Belinda Silva had the duty of being the mother of the mascot. Her son Gabriel could be seen up the street in his Eagle costume, waving down cars with another volunteer.
“Overwhelming” is how Silva described the event. “You never know what crosses people are carrying. “For some, this [spaghetti lunch] may be their only meal for the day. The kids are learning to give something for nothing out of the kindness of their hearts.”
Avelino Rodriguez, another volunteer, noted that this was the school’s first time doing community outreach for 100 Days of School. Rodriguez added, “The kids are getting to know what it is to be Christlike to others and how they should put Jesus first in everything they do. I love to see the kids grow in their faith.”
Karen Solis, a mother to one of the Eaglet cheerleaders, said, “This outreach teaches them how to work together as a team.” She said her kids were excited and looking forward to this day, though they worried it would rain. But the kids had decided, rain or shine; they would be there to serve and give back to the community.