Dear Parents/Guardians:
First and foremost, THANK YOU so VERY MUCH for the enormous amount of selfless and compassionate support that you have shared with our SPA community since our return to campus after Christmas vacation. Your kindness, generosity and quick responses to assist in any way possible will always be appreciated and will never be forgotten.
It is my heartfelt hope that this week’s newsletter finds everyone safe and well as we continue our journey recovering from the fires and all of the obstacles that have accompanied this catastrophic event. The tragic loss of lives and homes, and the thousands of forced evacuations, have been unimaginable. The significant impact of this tragedy is being felt by students in all the fire areas: 10 public and 6 private school campuses have been destroyed, leaving more than 5,000 students without schools. Here at St. Paul’s, we are doing what we can to accept students who want to continue their Catholic education. While these evacuated parents focus on the essentials of housing, meals, childcare, clothing and other essentials, we want to assure them that their children will be welcomed and cared for in our “SPA family” of Saints!
As always, we remain grateful for the first responders who are tirelessly working to protect our communities, and all of the generous volunteers who are doing everything possible to care for everyone affected by the fires. Please keep these special people in prayer as they remain focused on ensuring the safety and comfort of everyone in our communities.
Our school, and many other schools, are closed today because this is a day we have set aside to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As we continue to prepare for our accreditation, I have found myself reflecting on our Schoolwide Learning Expectations these past few weeks, particularly on what it means for “our school to have a strong involvement in service while empowering our students to use their time and talent to help the vulnerable.” While pondering that sentence, I was struck by the following words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while reading an article about his life.
“An individual has not started living until he/she can rise above the narrow confines of his/her individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
At the heart of all that civilization has meant and developed is ‘community’ – the mutually cooperative and voluntary venture of a person to assume a semblance of responsibility for his/her brother/sister.”
This is what it means to come together and act for the common good. And this is exactly what so many amazing people in our community are doing right now—reaching out and volunteering to help in any way possible wherever it is needed. Thank you, again, and may you be abundantly blessed!
Peace and Blessings,
Crystal Pinkofsky
Principal
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