Written with love: Card ministry at St. Rita, N.O., fosters connectivity

Story and photos by Beth Donze, Clarion Herald

Students at St. Rita School in New Orleans have discovered a way to give service, honor their elders and practice the lost art of letter writing through a year-round project that is “coronavirus-proof.”

Every week throughout the school year, rotating grades are supplied with a photo and a biographical sketch of a single resident from each of three New Orleans senior facilities. The students use the information to compose a hand-written card for their senior-of-the-week and tuck the recipient’s favorite snack inside the envelope.

As a result, the seniors are inundated with love at a time they really need some extra company.

“When I deliver the cards to them, I call it a box of sunshine. They are usually speechless, with a big smile, and their eyes light up!” said Amy Sprout, who invited St. Rita to take part in “Beyond the Textbook with St. Margaret’s Elders,” an effort launched last August at St. Margaret’s at Mercy nursing home.

To introduce her residents to the St. Rita students, Sprout, executive director of St. Margaret’s, asks her seniors to share a life lesson with the youngsters. Recent nuggets of wisdom  include:

• “Be kind and value the small things in life.” (Shirley Sensley)

• “Today give someone one of your smiles. It may be the only sunshine they see all day!” (Carol Gassen)

• “Take one day at a time.” (Elisa Janney)

• “Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride!” (Adele Blanchard)

“We always try to connect our elderly with the youth – because it’s been beneficial to both sides – but especially now, because there are so many restrictions in place due to the virus,” Sprout said.

‘Leavens of change’

When she learned about Sprout’s idea, Sister Marie Noel, St. Rita’s religious education coordinator, saw it as a wonderful way in which students could live out their school’s triple mission of “Seek Faith. Gain Knowledge. Give Service.” St. Rita‘s 2020-21 theme is “Be a leaven of change for others.”

“Kids have to develop their whole selves – they have to develop that whole idea of compassion for others, of human dignity, of knowing that our elderly have given service to all of us in some shape or form, whether they’re in a religious community, or they worked in a grocery store or they drove a school bus,” Sister Marie Noel said. “I am also a firm believer that kids need to know how to write, so I’m very happy when I see the second-grade teacher, for example, incorporate things like the parts of a letter and capitalization rules into their card-writing,” Sister Marie Noel said. 

In addition to writing to residents of St. Margaret’s, Sister Marie Noel expanded St. Rita’s effort to include residents of two other senior residences: Our Lady of Wisdom Healthcare Center (OLW) and Chateau de Notre Dame Apartments.

Upon learning that his intended card recipient – OLW resident Marianite Sister Laura Melancon – was a retired French teacher, St. Rita fifth grader Camron Burton wrote the following: “Thank you for everything you have done to save us through Jesus Christ, and I hope I can learn some French.”

“I want to make sure they’re OK,” said Camron, expressing his hope that he and his classmates could meet their card recipients in person, once everyone was vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Sometimes (manual writing) can get a little tiring to my hands, but I still do it anyway,”Camron said. “I just love when we can make them smile. It makes me happy and joyful, and I just want to write more.”

Saudi Martin, another St. Rita fifth grader, said she enjoys “learning about new people” through the card ministry.

“We don’t get to use pencil and paper a lot,“ Saudi said of her school‘s mostly keyboard-based modes of writing and learning. “I think our cards probably make their day.”

An artistic angel helps out

Because the students cannot take too much time out of their core subjects to write the notes, the blank cards in which they write are pre-decorated for them by 80-year-old Sister Phyllis Fuselier, a retired Marianite sister and St. Rita teacher who lives at the Chateau Apartments. Sister Phyllis, who has designed greeting cards for use by Chateau’s staff for the last six years, buys card stock and stickers at the Dollar Store, cuts and folds each card, and painstakingly decorates each with inspirational quotes and original art – whimsical characters that include birds, cats, angels and Mickey Mouse. Other recent creations are “Missy Prissy,”a rabbit that wears purple high-heels and a diamond bracelet; and a fox she calls “The new sheriff i n town.”

“I don’t like to make the same thing over and over. No two cards are alike,” notes Sister Phyllis.

Amazingly, Sister Phyllis paints her beautiful pieces despite being legally blind, using her peripheral vision to locate a starting point of an image, placing her pen or brush on that spot, and then feeling her way through it manually.

“I enjoy the artistic part and then I enjoy giving them away,” Sister Phyllis said.

At press time, three other Catholic schools were taking part in “Beyond the Textbook with St. Margaret’s Elders”: Academy of the Sacred Heart, St. Dominic and St. Pius X.

bdonze@clarionherald.org