• Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
The Texas Catholic
The Texas Catholic

Dallas, Texas

Today is Tuesday, May 30, 2023
  • Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    • Instagram
Home
Uncategorized

Parishioners, students pack boxes for ‘Heroes’

Sunday, November 10, 2019

 

By David Sedeño
The Texas Catholic

PLANO — Socks. Toothpaste. Peanut butter crackers. Candy. Protein bars.

For about 90 minutes on Sept. 15, Prince of Peace Catholic School seventh-graders Katie Walsh and Maree Suhalim joined dozens of other students and volunteers from the parish in packing boxes with those items and more for military personnel.

This was the second year that parish and school volunteers have come together to gather items, assemble 500 boxes and pack them with the items that went to the USO Center at DFW International Airport for troops deploying or passing through the terminal.

Susie Anderssen, one of the directors of the military support ministry at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, said that extra items would be taken to homeless veterans being discharged from the Veterans Administration Hospital in Dallas.

“We have 28 family members from our parish who are currently deployed in the military and we support them in any way we can and we want to support anyone who is serving and we want to thank them,” Anderssen said.

She said that more than 125 people are involved in the Honor Our Heroes Committee and that children from the parish and school also are getting are becoming more aware of the importance of thanking not only the active personnel, but retired veterans, as well.

“All the children should be aware of what the veterans and servicemen and women are doing to protect us and enable them to have the choices that they have, to have a choice to go to the school that they want to and to worship wherever they want to worship and to have the freedom of speech,” she said. “And we want to honor the people who are sacrificing so much for them.”

She said the support from Father Tom Cloherty, the pastor, and Father Stephen Ingram, the parochial vicar, has helped the ministry expand.
Each year, at Masses on the weekend before Memorial Day, each person attending Mass receives a poppy in remembrance of those who served and died in war. On that day, on July 4th and Veterans Day, more than 200 American flags are placed along Plano Parkway in front of the parish to signify the parish’s support for veterans and active military personnel.

Anderssen said that the committee also supports the VA Outreach Center in Plano that serves more than 400,000 veterans in Collin County.
This year, Anderssen said, school children donated their “Buck-a-Jeans Day” collection to the committee.

“They also collected 797 sun- screen tubes and collected about that many socks,” she said. “They are all involved and we are hoping and praying that out of this that they come away with knowing that someone is sacrificing for them and they will be able to honor them whenever they see them.”

Kate Walsh said she volunteered to pack items for the military in honor of her grandmother, who served in the Air Force.

“This is really important to our school because we sometimes don’t always show support to our heroes,” she said, her friend Maree Suhalim nodding in agreement. “We really want to show our appreciation to all of our heroes. We don’t realize how many people are serving and protecting our country. We are so grateful for those heroes.”

Playing cards, Oreo cookies, sunscreen, Skittles and Pringles, also were among the items collected for the boxes. And the final item packed, and the first thing that military personnel saw when they opened up the package, was a card, many of them with an American flag, and a few words, hand-written by a student from the school.

“Hero, thank you for your service.”

Learn more about Prince of Peace Catholic Community’s organization by contacting Susie Anderssen at susiea75093@verizon.net or Marianna Thiebaud at masearst2@icloud.com.

  • Tags
  • veterans-salute
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest
Next article Remembering Cpl. Peter J. Courcy
Previous article Students work together to make blankets for veterans

Related Posts

Sister Veit: A new intergenerational covenant Columnists
Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Sister Veit: A new intergenerational covenant

Sharing Faith Through Music News
Friday, March 24, 2023

Sharing Faith Through Music

How to successfully accompany young Hispanic Catholics Uncategorized
Wednesday, March 22, 2023

How to successfully accompany young Hispanic Catholics

Texas Catholic Classics

A look at the five Dallas law enforcement officers who gave their lives while protecting citizens during a mass shooting in downtown Dallas in July 2016.

 

How a child with special needs inspired a high school volleyball team, community and a family who heeded God’s call to protect life.

 

After a young runner collapsed at a Dallas marathon, grace and providence unfolded for those involved in the valiant effort to help her.

   

In the summer of 2016, 50 students and 25 chaperones from Dallas Catholic high schools traveled to Nicaragua for a 10-day mission trip.

 

Early on a November morning, Kenndrick Mendieta bounded from the gym at Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep toward the campus’ athletic fields as clouds lifted on a fresh new day.

 

Subscribe

Get the award-winning Texas Catholic delivered to your door. Use the menu below to subscribe now.


Subscription length




 

Photo Gallery

Click here to find your favorite Texas Catholic photographs.

The Texas Catholic Newspaper

Catholic Diocese of Dallas
Michael Gresham, Editor

3725 Blackburn Street
Dallas, Texas 75219
(214) 379-2800

Our Affiliated Sites

Texas Catholic Youth

Revista Católica

Legal and Other

Contact us

Terms of service

Privacy policy

Site map

Site powered by TexasCatholicMedia

© 2013-2019 The Texas Catholic Publishing Company. All rights reserved.