BAY VIEW ACADEMY STUDENTS HELP MAKE CHRISTMAS MERRY FOR RESIDENTS AT MCAULEY VILLAGE

East Providence, RI – Bay View Academy students have been busy this month making Christmas just a little merrier for the residents of McAuley Village, a Sisters of Mercy sponsored transitional housing program for homeless women and their children.

On Saturday, December 7th, five Upper School students and members of the Mercy Action Club took three hours out of their personal lives to help children who reside at McAuley Village select Christmas presents for their mothers. Mercy Action Club is a Bay View student organization devoted to helping those in need within the local community. The students provided cookies and cupcakes, displayed gift items on the tables, assisted children with shopping for their moms, (the children chose free items that had been “re-gifted” and made available to them), wrapped the gifts and helped the children sign their cards. They also cleaned up after the event. 

The Chefs at the Bay, Bay View’s cooking club, made a sweet contribution to the Christmas festivities at McAuley Village as well. Under the direction of Bay View teachers and Chefs at the Bay moderators, Pamela Farmer (Bristol, RI), Valerie Briden (East Providence, RI), Antonelia Lombardi (Cranston, RI) and Lee Haines (East Providence, RI), the girls baked 500 assorted cookies which were donated to McAuley so that mothers and children could go to a “Cookie Shoppe” and take an individually-selected tray of holiday treats. Lee Haines, Valerie Briden and Antonelia Lombardi were all also on-hand at McAuley to help with the festivities.

Both the Cookie Shoppe and the December 7th children’s Christmas shop were undertaken in collaboration with the McAuley Village Women’s Leadership Circle. According to www.mcauleyri.org, the Women’s Leadership Circle is built on the principle that, “a powerful resource to helping the women of McAuley Village is women, particularly those with education and employment skills, helpful connections, and the desire to help others take a step forward.”

Despite a busy exam week, the Bay View Mercy Action Club is headed to McAuley Village again on Friday, December 20th. Thirty members of the club are throwing a children’s Christmas party. The students each selected one child’s name and will bring a gift for that boy or girl. In addition, they’ll be watching a movie together and having a holiday feast.