The Patriot Report – March 13, 2020

GROW A GARDEN THIS SPRING

I think it is no accident that Genesis depicts the ideal state as a garden. There is much harmony to be found in gardening and many important lessons. In fact, throughout the bible, there are countless analogies made to gardens. One of the things I have come to appreciate about gardening is that I can often draw about lessons that relate to my life. For example, take the lesson of weeds in a garden. If left unattended, the weeds in a garden can quickly multiply and choke out the vegetables and flowers that are planted there. Relatedly, in life, if we do not address our vices and our sin, it can quickly multiply and choke out the good qualities we possess. Or think of the freshly harvested plant. You have nurtured a vegetable from seed. You watered it, you fed it nutrients, you tended to it and now you get to enjoy the “fruits of your labor.” Is this not like life? Think of a relationship with any person. You need to tend to it and care for it in order for the relationship to grow. What a powerful lesson for our children! 

There are many different forms of gardens today. It can be a simple herb garden on a window sill. It can be a container garden on a patio. It can be a plot of garden in a community garden. It can be a backyard vegetable garden. I challenge each of you to grow a plant of some sort with your child over spring break. Tend to it and care for it. Use it to teach your children timeless lessons about life. 

I pray that, despite all the recent developments of Covid-19, that each of you will find time for rest. God bless. 

Dear Parents,

I would like to direct families to a letter addressed to families about COVID-19 and school. Throughout spring break, the Ministry of Education will be communicating with administrators about COVID-19. Any important notices will be communicated through mailchimp. 

To read the letter in English click here

To read the letter in Chinese click here

Given the recent travel advisory, updated as of March 12, 2020, any families that are traveling outside (by any means of transportation) of Canada must inform our school office. Upon return to Canada, we are requesting families to do their civic duty and self-quarantine for 14 days as per the direction of the BC Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry. 

With the travel advisory in place, I would like to encourage parents to not see this as a burden but instead as an opportunity. We live in a most spectacular province, the envy of many. Why not be a tourist in your province? Go on hikes, go for a bike ride on some of the local dykes (check out the dyke system in my neck of the woods – Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge). Go do a farm tour in Chilliwack or Abbotsford. Go for a kayak trip on any one of our province’s many lakes or smaller riverways. Be adventurous and take a road trip to a part of BC you have never been to before. We can either be disappointed by trip cancellations or we can look for the positives! 

I would like to thank the teachers for all their work in educating our students in proper hand hygiene and for supporting students during this time. I would also like to reassure parents that we continue to take our direction from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, and CISVA. 

To the Faithful,

Please see the most recent news about COVID-19 as it pertains to worship and mass. Click here to read the update. 

Thank you

This year we are raising money for a new scoreboard for our school gym and for library furniture for our students. Our current scoreboard dates itself back to the 1980’s. The lightbulbs we used to order are no longer being manufactured as everything is moving towards LED. On numerous occasions, the scoreboard has stopped working during a game. Given how much we love our sports, we see a scoreboard replacement as a much needed upgrade. We also currently have no comfortable furniture for children to sit on while they read in our library. We would love to foster a culture of reading at our school and our library could become a real hub for our students if it was properly furnished. We need your support to help transform this space for your children. 

New this year is the ability to donate online. Many of our families have friends and family members that live out of the country. We are asking you to spread the word and share the link for donating online. Simply direct people to our website and they can click the donate now button. Or you can share this link with them: https://m.charitableimpact.com/WHLA

Once on the page, they click the header “Giving Groups supporting this Campaign.” They simply select the grade of the child they are supporting and then they can donate via credit card. Tax receipts will be issued to them by Charitable Impact. 

We are hoping that with online donations available, that this will be our most successful walkathon ever!

Our students performed remarkably well at the Archbishop Carney Regional Speech Arts Festival. Each student who participated achieved a Gold status. I am so proud of each of our students who performed! Way to go St. Jude School!

St. Jude School, with the help of El Shaddai, is in the process of purchasing new tables for school and parish events. We will therefore be selling our wooden folding tables at $25 each. These tables are heavy duty. Please email the office (office@stjude.ca) if you are interested in purchasing tables. Tables will become available for purchase once our new tables have arrived. 

Join St. Jude Parish every Friday at 7pm for Stations of the Cross. This is a prayerful way to enter into the season of Lent.