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Date: 9/20/2023
SPRINGFIELD — When students returned to St. Michael’s Academy for the first day of class in August, fires that destroyed lives and homes in Hawaii were still burning. The children usually do fundraisers for the community later in the academic year, but this year they began selling leis right away to raise money for a Catholic school on Maui. Students felt a sense of urgency to help fellow students.
“I noticed one of the buildings that were destroyed was a Catholic school,” said third grade math teacher Lisa Wozniakowski. “I did a little bit of research about the school and found out they had just opened. The storms tore off the roof and then fire destroyed the building.”
Wozniakowski is faculty advisor for the National Junior Honor Society at St. Michael’s. The group holds fundraisers every month focusing on one of the seven holy virtues. It’s charity this month.
“I’m always looking for things to do like collections of canned goods around Thanksgiving. We sell candy canes to help people buy Christmas presents,” said Wozniakowski.
Students in the NJHS at St. Michael’s partnered with the nearly 500 other students in the school to sell the leis. NJHS students along with Wozniakowski packaged them into bags and dropped them off in classrooms across the school. Children in grades K-8 fanned out in the community and sold the Hawaiian symbol of aloha — love, friendship and honor.
The first batch of 500 leis sold so fast, Wozniakowski ordered another 500. “We were planning to sell 500 leis, but the outpouring of people wanting to buy them was so great, we decided to order more and we’re extending it to the whole month of September,” she said.
The dress code at St. Michael’s is very specific — only school uniforms. But this month there has been an exception to the rule, and students can accent their uniforms with leis.
Students are selling the garland of silk flowers for a dollar apiece. They hope to raise at least $1,000 that will go directly to the Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina, Hawaii — to help the school rebuild, or aid the children who went there. Wozniakowski talked about the fires and devastation with her students, and she showed them pictures of the destruction.
“They were stunned. They were very sad. These are honor society students, and they have a lot of work to do, but they wanted to start the year off with this fundraiser,” said Wozniakowski.
Honor society students and their advisor have many more fundraisers planned for this school year, including a walkathon and raffle. Wozniakowski is here to teach them math, but also how good deeds can add up, helping other children so far away.
“What we try to do is develop the character of our students,” said Wozniakowski. “We’re reaching out to help others, and I hope other schools across the country are doing the same thing.”
Anyone interested in purchasing leis or donating to the fundraiser can email Wozniakowski at l.wozniakowski@smaspringfield.org.