Ascension students learn by serving others
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
A Bradley Beach food bank was the grateful recipient of a truckload of supplies to be distributed to the area’s needy, thanks to the efforts of the seventh and eighth grade religious education students of Ascension Parish.
Karen Kopcak, coordinator of religious education for the Bradley Beach parish, has spearheaded the fall project for eight years as part of the Confirmation preparation program.
“Now the food bank really depends on us,” she noted, citing the decline in donations outside the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
After an appeal made by the students at weekend Masses in early fall, the students collected donated goods from parishioners. Roughly 200 plastic supermarket bags of food and $200 in cash were transported in early October to replenish the pantry, which operates at the rear of St. James Episcopal Church. The Bradley Beach Food Bank is the largest such resource in Monmouth County, now marking its second decade of service to the needy.
Kopcak noted that the project not only engages the students in acts of service and compassion, but also helps them to become more aware of the daily reality for those who lack the most basic of needs.
The list of items requested by the food bank amazes the youngsters, Kopcak explained, adding, “These are things their mothers would never run out of at home. It is a real eye opener for them.”
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A Bradley Beach food bank was the grateful recipient of a truckload of supplies to be distributed to the area’s needy, thanks to the efforts of the seventh and eighth grade religious education students of Ascension Parish.
Karen Kopcak, coordinator of religious education for the Bradley Beach parish, has spearheaded the fall project for eight years as part of the Confirmation preparation program.
“Now the food bank really depends on us,” she noted, citing the decline in donations outside the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
After an appeal made by the students at weekend Masses in early fall, the students collected donated goods from parishioners. Roughly 200 plastic supermarket bags of food and $200 in cash were transported in early October to replenish the pantry, which operates at the rear of St. James Episcopal Church. The Bradley Beach Food Bank is the largest such resource in Monmouth County, now marking its second decade of service to the needy.
Kopcak noted that the project not only engages the students in acts of service and compassion, but also helps them to become more aware of the daily reality for those who lack the most basic of needs.
The list of items requested by the food bank amazes the youngsters, Kopcak explained, adding, “These are things their mothers would never run out of at home. It is a real eye opener for them.”