St. Mary's Catholic School

Feb 22nd, our school community is so very blessed to be able to have Ft. Robert Lee from St. Martin of Tours Parish share Ash Wendsday Liturgy with us! Thank you to our school chaplain, Ms. Amy Yaremcio and Ft. Robert Lee for arranging this for our school.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent and in many ways it feels like the pandemic, etc. has been the longest of Lents with many things "given up" or gone from our lives for a time. Some people described last Lent as the "Lentiest of Lents" and perhaps this upcoming Lent will feel much the same. Perhaps our way of responding to Lent in 2022 might be not to simply give something else up, but to introduce a spiritual practice into our lives that can bring us closer to God. For example, daily prayer or bible reading - or perhaps even a Catholic podcast such as "The Bible in a Year" Podcast by Fr. Mike Schmitz. It is a great 20 minute daily podcast available on all major podcast platforms and can be directly accessed here: https://ascensionpress.com/pages/biy-registration

Pink Shirt Day - This Wednesday!

Now a movement celebrated across the globe, Pink Shirt Day has humble beginnings. Inspired by an act of kindness in small-town Nova Scotia, CKNW Kids' Fund, working with partners Boys & Girls Clubs and 980 CKNW, was inspired to raise funds to support anti-bullying programs. Here is a snippet of an article detailing the original incident:

“David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenage friends organized a high-school protest to wear pink in sympathy with a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied [for wearing a pink shirt]…[They] took a stand against bullying when they protested against the harassment of a new Grade 9 student by distributing pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school. ‘I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders,’ says Mr. Price, 17, who organized the pink protest. ‘Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.’ So Mr. Shepherd and some other headed off to a discount store and bought 50 pink tank tops. They sent out message to schoolmates that night, and the next morning they hauled the shirts to school in a plastic bag. As they stood in the foyer handing out the shirts, the bullied boy walked in. His face spoke volumes. ‘It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders,’ Mr. Price recalled. The bullies were never heard from again.”— GLOBE & MAIL

St. Mary’s Education Society will be hosting their annual Ham Bingo on Friday, March 17, 2023.

Along with the Bingo we will also be having a silent auction, door prizes, and a concession. We

invite you to attend this fun family event.

In the past the proceeds of the Bingo have gone towards purchasing items and services to help enhance the learning experiences of the students of St. Mary’s. The proceeds from the silent auction items go directly to the Student Council to use in ways they feel will benefit the

students. These opportunities would not be possible without the generosity of our local

community.

It is our hope that you would consider donating to our event. We are currently looking for any

items you can donate to the silent auction and cash donations for ham purchases. Please note, the average cost of a ham is approximately $40.00. If you would like to donate to our event please contact Carmen Heisler at 780-603-0911 or 780-632-3673 to arrange pick up.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

St. Mary’s Education Society

• Feb 20: Family Day - No SCHOOL
• Feb 21: Jr. High Ski Trip
• Feb 22: ASH WEDNESDAY
• Feb 23: Jr High Basketball VS Veg Comp @ STMY - 4:00 Girls, 5:15 Boys
• Feb 24-25: Sr. Boys Basketball @ Veg Comp
• Feb 24-25: Sr. Girls Home Tournament
• Mar 1: Early Dismissal
• Mar 3: EICS Faith and Wellness PD - No School for Students
• March 7: 2nd Jr. High Ski Trip (Group 2)
• March 9: Jr Basketball Playoff Game (TBD)
• March 10-11: Sr. High Basketball Zones

Our Purdys EASTER Fundraiser begins....NOW! Go get your Easter treats: https://fundraising.purdys.com/1593084-104540

This past Christmas we sold over $5000 worth of chocolate which raised $1600 profit for the Athletics Club!

This time around, our goal is to raise $2000 in profit so we need your help—but don’t worry, all the work you're doing is choosing which chocolates to order.

Stock up on beautiful Easter gift boxes, fun chocolate bunnies, Sweet Georgia Browns and more. All profits will go directly to the STMY Athletics Club that supports ALL athetes at St. Mary's. So satisfy those cravings, get all your Easter gift-shopping done while supporting a great cause.

The deadline to order is March 21st, and pick up at the school will be April 5th. Simply click on the link, enter an email address to sign up for our campaign, and get out that credit card to order away. Please be advised that only orders paid through the Purdy's site will be available... any unpaid orders will not be processed.

Once orders close, we’ll notify everyone when and where you can collect your treats.

Please share with anyone you know who might be interested. It would help us so much.

Thank you!

Every 2 years EICS has been sending students from each of their high schools to the NCYC event held in Indianapolis, Indiana. NCYC (National Catholic Youth Conference) is a powerfully unique three-day experience of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, service, and empowerment for Catholic teenagers (of high school age) and their adult chaperones.

NCYC is the premiere Catholic youth event on a national scale that gathers people from all across America for a life-changing encounter with Christ. Please speak to Miss. Y or Mr. Murphy if this interests you. It is AMAZING and we hope to send a small group and start planning asap.

WHAT TO EXPECT AT NCYC:

INSPIRING SPEAKERS

Some of the best speakers in the Catholic space.

MASS & ADORATION

Celebrate liturgy and the Eucharist with tens of thousands, led by our American bishops.

MUSIC & WORSHIP

Praise and entertainment led by award-winning artists.

INTERACTIVE EXHIBITS

Countless games, crafts, obstacle courses, meetups, live radio shows, challenges, and so much more.

Email: stmy@eics.ab.ca
Website: https://stmy.eics.ab.ca/
Location: St Mary's Catholic School, Vegreville, AB, Canada
Phone: (780)632-3934
Twitter: @stmarys_veg