'JOY' TO THE WORLD

The Church of St. Patrick will be spreading lots of ‘joy’ around the world this year. 

The church located in Ravena, participated in “Box of Joy,” a Christmas gift ministry run by Cross Catholic Outreach and organized by local Catholic schools, parishes and groups nationwide. The groups fill shoe boxes full of necessities and toys for impoverished children in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Christa Desrosiers, faith formation leader at the Church of St. Patrick, originally found out about the Box of Joy ministry during a meeting for youth leaders organized by Diocesan Coordinator Dave Stagliano and attended by Leeanna Holmes, development officer of Cross Catholic Outreach, who pitched the idea to the youth leaders.

Desrosiers exchanged information with Holmes about how to get started with the ministry, and committed to a goal of filling 200 boxes between St. Patrick’s and its sister church, St. Mary’s, in Coxsackie.

Each box is filled with donations such as toys, school supplies, candy, creative activity items, hygiene items and clothing. No one knows which country the boxes will get sent to, but donors can choose between three age ranges and the gender of the child. Every child also receives a booklet in their own language that tells the story of Jesus.

Once the empty boxes arrived in town, the fifth- and sixth-grade faith formation students were first introduced to the program. The following week, James Mantor — a fifth-grade student in Deb Sanderson’s class — spoke to parishioners about the program during Mass, giving those who didn’t have children in the faith formation program a chance to participate.

“A lot of the parishioners who no longer have kids at home were just very excited for shopping for a small child again,” Desrosiers said. “They said it was just so fun to do because they don’t have any little ones anymore, so they really embraced the idea.”

Parishioners weren’t the only ones to embrace the boxes. While all faith formation students (K-10), participated in the Box of Joy ministry, Sanderson’s combined fifth- and sixth-grade class was put in charge of bringing the ministry to other grades.

“I think it’s very rewarding for all of them to see (and) to learn about places; one of the tag lines is ‘this might be their only Christmas gift,’ ” Desrosiers said. “A small shoe box filled with things like a toothbrush and toothpaste is very special to them; it helps them kind of imagine what kind of life other kids lead.”

Within three weeks, the parish filled 114 boxes, with St. Mary’s filling 52. Since St. Patrick’s served as a regional drop-off center, boxes poured in from Holy Family Parish in Little Falls, Saratoga Central Catholic High School and Our Lady of Mercy Life Center, resulting in a total of 276 boxes shipped.

“We’re excited for next year, to make it even bigger,” Desrosiers said.