Service is an important part of what it means to be a graduate of St. Mary's Academy and the school's mission statement reflects this with a special service call for the economically and emotionally poor and disadvantaged. Mindful of this mission and recognizing that there is much need in our city, country and world this holiday season, the 600 students at St. Mary's donated enough supplies to fill 36 shipping boxes, raised over $1,800 for tuition for students at a devastated school in Mississippi, and donated $650 worth of gift cards for supplies for the same school.

Determined to spread holiday cheer, students at St. Mary's participated in several special service projects:

1. Partnering with Our Lady Academy (OLA), the only all-girls school in Mississippi.
   As the only all-girls school in Oregon, the student body at St. Mary's feels a special connection to OLA. Run by the Sisters of Mercy, OLA serves young women in grades 7-12, with a student body of almost 300. Their school looked out onto the Gulf of Mexico and was destroyed when Hurricane Katrina hit. OLA has many needs for supplies and money and St. Mary's organized tuition, school supplies, and monetary donations from its student body. In addition, St. Mary's students wrapped gifts at Barnes and Noble for OLA donations and the Campus Ministry and Service (CMS) team sponsored a movie night, where students brought small "girlie" items for OLA students. In total, over $1,800 for tuition, $650 in gift cards, and 16 boxes of supplies were collected to help OLA re-build the school and student body.


2. Donating to the Women and Children at Rose Haven.
   Rose Haven is a community and intervention center for homeless women and their children in downtown Portland. St. Mary's students collected Christmas gifts for the families and decorated the center for the holidays. More than 20 boxes of winter supplies and gifts were sent to Rose Haven on Wednesday, December 14 to support its women and children for the holidays.


3. Salvation Army Bell Ringing.
   Nineteen St. Mary's students donated more than 10 hours ringing bells over the Thanksgiving weekend.

The students at St. Mary's Academy are encouraged to integrate service into their lives; to make service a lifelong commitment and become socially aware and contributing members of society. With the student body's generous outpouring of service this season, the St. Mary's Christmas spirit is definitely burning bright.

Founded in 1859 by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, St. Mary’s Academy of Portland, is Oregon’s oldest continuously operating secondary school and one of 716 all-female schools in the country. The student body represents a diverse background of young women from over 30 urban, suburban, and rural communities in Oregon and Southwest Washington. St. Mary’s Academy is distinguished by its development of the whole person, and is the only school in the state to receive three U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools awards.