Chaminade Collects for Troops as Part of 9/11 Drive

A total of 80 families who have a connection with were affected by September 11, 2001, including four students at the time who lost a parent that day.

In the decade since 9/11, those same students directly affected by or witness to the terrorist attacks have graduated, leaving the walls of the private all-boys Catholic school behind and going onto college and the workforce.

It was then the challenge for new school President Bro. Thomas Cleary, S.M. to find a way to keep the events of 9/11 relevant to this year’s new student body, some of whom were only as young as 8 years old when the attacks occurred.

During a president’s meeting before the start of the new school year, Bro. Cleary requested ideas from the staff, wanting to associate the event with service, like other drives the school held for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. In response, Director of Student Services Michael Ingrassia organized a supply drive for the troops currently serving overseas.

“I was really inspired by the First Lady and her work with military families,” Ingrassia said.

The school has held drives for military families in the past, though those have mostly been limited to the athletic department and student-athletes working with coach Jack Moran, who sends a shipment of supplies to the troops each month.

“This is more of a school-wide drive,” Principal Bro. Joseph Belliizzi, S.M. said.

Wednesday morning students brought numerous boxes full of supplies to the auditorium lobby, which were then organized into several piles: toiletries, foodstuffs, snacks, games, CDs, DVDs – “all the comforts of home to the troops,” Ingrassia said. One of the other items requested is coloring books and crayons which are used by the troops to foster diplomacy to the country’s youth.

The items will then be picked up by Give 2 the Troops, which inspects the donations and ships them to the troops in Afghanistan.