“Can you guess why this is my favorite photo of Christine?” Anne Reap, the Lower School director of Trenton Catholic Academy in Hamilton asked the kindergarten students sitting in their classroom dressed not in their uniforms but in their cozy pajamas.

“It is my favorite because she is smiling with school children just like you.” The photo that Mrs. Reap showed the children was that of Christine Gianacaci, the 22-year-old Hopewell student who perished in the earthquake in Haiti while on a humanitarian visit Jan. 12, 2010, the same day that picture was taken.

On the one year anniversary of the earthquake, Reap found herself in a familiar position. The previous year she spoke to those same students, who were aware of the disaster and had family members who lived in Haiti. Gloria, a student who was 4 years old when the earthquake devastated the island nation, told her, “My mommy said Haiti is broken.”

Christine Gianacaci’s parents, John and Jean, are personal friends of Reap and the TCA school family.

To show their support, the Lower School students participated in a Pajama Day sponsored by the student government. This fundraiser allowed the students to wear their pajamas to school for a monetary donation. The school raised almost $600 for Christine’s Hope for Kids.

This foundation was established with donations that were received in lieu of flowers at Christine’s memorial, which was held in St. Paul Church in Princeton last February. John Gianacaci is a member of St. Paul Parish.

“The parish under the leadership of Msgr. [Walter] Nolan embraced us during the crisis and continues to support us,” Jean Gianacaci said. Christine herself was a member of the Hopewell Presbyterian Church.

She was also a student at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. She majored in broadcast communications and interned at WPST in Princeton during the summers. “She chose Lynn University because of their excellent comprehensive study and tutoring department which fit her needs. She became active with Food for the Poor on campus with a club called Students for the Poor,” Jean explained.

It was with the Food for the Poor group that Christine traveled to Haiti. Christine along with three other students and two professors from Lynn University were killed when the Hotel Montana in the capital city of Port-au-Prince collapsed as a result of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

“She was always smiling, kind and respectful to everyone. She had a beautiful voice, she loved music, playing golf and traveling,” her mother shared.

“Where she would have ended up working, we don’t know, but we do know that she would have worked with children.”

It was her love for children and those less fortunate than herself that inspired her parents and friends to keep her dream alive with Christine’s Hope for Kids.

The mission of the foundation is to “raise money to help underprivileged children in the United States, provide them with opportunities to learn, laugh, grow and excel, and provide experiences that will have a positive impact on their lives. Each donation will be made with the message to pay it forward, and belief that each person can make a difference every day by just being a little bit kinder and helping others when they can. This was how Christine lived her life every day. This is the legacy this foundation will carry on.”

By the end of 2010, they had helped more than 1,000 children and gifted $68,000, Gianacaci conveyed.

“We have sent local kids to summer camp, leadership conferences, swim lessons, provided back packs filled with school supplies, new pairs of baseball shoes, pajamas and had a huge holiday party all for underprivileged kids,” she said.

Christine’s Heroes was also created to honor and recognize, “an ordinary person who in their everyday life does extraordinary things by giving back to their community and school,” Gianacaci detailed.

And only a year later the foundation continues to grow. On the anniversary of the earthquake, the Gianacaci’s spent the day in Boca Raton.

“Christine’s friends in Florida wanted to help the foundation, so we thought what better way to commemorate the one-year anniversary than to bring the foundation to Florida and start helping kids there.”

While Christine’s life was cut short on that January day, her parents and friends continue her mission of “helping underprivileged kids and to put a smile, like Christine’s big smile, on the faces of those less fortunate than us.”

For more information on Christine’s Hope for Kids, visit www.christineshope.org/