Welcome to December, which means we are fully into the holiday season. Let us be grateful for the blessings God has bestowed upon us. At the same time, we must be mindful of the many problems facing our world today. We pray the season’s promise of peace may truly be realized.
We wish to thank all of you who so generously donated various food items during our annual Food Drive in November. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving three of our 8th grade students packed up these items and we delivered them to St. Peter’s Haven Food Pantry to be used to help needy families in the Clifton area.
This month, as we sense the needs of others, we highlight the virtue of Service. This is an active and natural response to our concern for others. This December once again, in the spirit of service, our choir will be going to City Hall to sing for the Mayor of Clifton and his staff as well as at the nearby senior citizens center. For the first time, our students will have the opportunity to sing for Clifton’s new Mayor Ray Grabowski.
As you know, in November we launched our sixth annual Read-a-Thon, our 99Pledges fundraiser. Students have been busy working to fulfill their pledges to read 5 books in this period. As of this writing, New Hope School has raised $1,326 with 27% of families participating. The fundraiser will end on Friday, Dec. 8. We encourage all of our families to join in support of their children by finding sponsors as they continue their reading.
We invite you to join a PTO meeting on Zoom Friday, Dec. 8, 7:00-8:00 pm. Look for the link!
If your child is in 3rd grade or above, we hope you will support his/her involvement in our annual Spelling Bee, which will be held the morning of Friday, December 22. We will be choosing ten finalists who will then compete in January to become this year’s school champion.
Finally, please note that our annual Winter Concert will take place on Thursday, December 21, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. This year’s program will include a special performance of A Christmas Carol by our Drama Club as well as our dance class, choir, and each of our grades. In addition, the winners of an essay contest on the topic Service For Peace will read their essays.
Wishing you Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year!
New Hope School Staff
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”
Rabindranath Tagore