Efforts didn’t go unnoticed as students from St. Ambrose Catholic School in Seymour participated in Catholic Schools Week helping through various community service projects on Wednesday.

Catholic Schools Week has been the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States since 1974, starting last Sunday and running all week.

The theme for 2024 was “Catholic schools: United in faith and community.” Schools typically observe the celebration week with Masses, open houses and other activities for students, families, parishioners and community members.

Through these events, schools focus on the value Catholic education provides to young people and its contributions to the church, communities and nation.

Fifth-graders from St. Ambrose piled into The Arc of Jackson County on Dupont Drive in Seymour early afternoon while Executive Director Melanie O’Neal told the students about the organization and what services it brings to the community.

The Arc works to create employment opportunities and help those with intellectual and developmental disabilities with their goals of living, learning, working and fully participating in the community.

Students spent the afternoon sorting holiday activities, such as egg coloring kits, organizing seed packets and cutting out paper butterflies, that will be used when volunteers visit special education classrooms in the coming months.

“The work you are doing is truly impactful. Thank you,” O’Neal told the kids.

Fifth grade teacher Amy Hughes said she has been teaching at St. Ambrose for 18 years, and Catholic Schools Week has been around since her started at the school, if not longer.

“This is a great way to teach the kids about service in the community as it’s a part of our faith and also to spread our faith to others,” she said.

Student Antonella Barreto and her friends, Bellaney Cabrera and Maria Hernandez-Mendez, were a well-oiled machine sorting egg coloring kits at one table.

“I really enjoy community day because we get to help others, and today, we get to help those with disabilities,” Barreto said.

Cabrera agreed that community day is one of the days during Catholic Schools Week many look forward to. Another day many of the students mentioned was Nation Day, where students and staff dressed up as tacky tourists.

At another table, Malia Kerkhof was tracing butterflies for her friends to cut out and add to a pile. She said she enjoys community day because she feels like she is making a difference.

Across town at First Presbyterian Church, sixth-graders did some heavy lifting carrying diapers and putting together pantry pointers for parents in need at Sweet Cheeks Diaper Pantry.

Sweet Cheeks is a mission that provides free diapers and wipes to Jackson County babies and toddlers.

In one year, 581 children from 388 families were registered through the pantry, and 3,883 bundles of diapers were distributed. Also, the pantry doors were open for a total of 459 hours over the course of one year, and 155,512 diapers and pull-ups went out the door.

Pantry pointers is something that offers a variety of education materials and other resources every quarter for parents. This quarter, with winter sickness in full effect, the students filled bags with cleaning supplies, such as Clorox wipes, and wrote encouraging messages on the front of the bag.

“It’s an honor to have these kiddos come in here and help as well as see what we offer to the community,” said Jessica Olsen, director of Sweet Cheeks Diaper Pantry.

Sixth grade teacher Kim Stewart said the students always try to give back when they can.

“Not everybody is as blessed as we are, so we try to teach them the value of giving back to the community,” she said.

Sixth-grader Hope Couch said this week is something she looks forward to all year, especially community day.

“I enjoy giving back to the community, and it’s really cool to see how many people these places support,” she said.

Besides a community day during Catholic Schools Week, the middle school students provide monthly services.

Eighth-graders deliver Meals on Wheels on the second Friday of every month, seventh-graders volunteer at Community Provisions of Jackson County on the first Thursday of every month and sixth-graders help at Anchor House Family Assistance Center and Pantry on the third Tuesday of every month.

Other grades participated in service projects on Wednesday, as well. Kindergartners through second-graders made Valentine-themed items for nursing home residents, third- and fourth-graders cleaned at Girls Inc. of Jackson County and seventh-graders volunteered at the Jackson County Clothing Center. Eighth-graders delivered aluminum can tabs to the Ronald McDonald House and visited Simon Brute Seminary College in Indianapolis.