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Dear Parents,

Getting back to normal means getting back to all of the ways that we are able to help those less fortunate than us. Blessed Sacrament is known for its generosity, particularly over the holidays. This year we will be fully participating in most of our traditional service opportunities to help the local community and DC area. 
Next week we will complete our Thanksgiving Food Drive for the Spanish Catholic Center AND we will be participating in the archdiocesan coat drive. The Thanksgiving food drive asks each grade level to bring one component of a Thanksgiving meal. We organize the food and the Spanish Catholic Center comes to pick it up and deliver it to families in time for Thanksgiving. For the coat drive, we are asking each child that may have outgrown a coat or may have one to donate to bring in one CLEAN coat. We will deliver them to the churches that are designated as collection sites next Friday.

After Thanksgiving break (more on that in a minute...see below for important information), we will be collecting canned goods for the Greg Gannon Canned Food Drive. Like everything else, this collection was diminished last year because of Covid, yet there are still people in need and this collection effort is a hallmark of our community. We also will be competing against Holy Redeemer again for the coveted GGCFD trophy. We will be collecting cans all week (because that is the only way that Holy Redeemer beat us in the past!) but our final big collection day at school will be Friday, December 3. The drop off day for the bags collected by families in the neighborhoods will be Saturday, December 4. More information will be coming home about this. Please help us to make it the best year ever.

We will also be collecting the items for the homeless for the sixth Grade Stocking Stuffer project and, the parish has the Giving Tree project going as well. Yes, these Advent times can feel overwhelming and we understand that it can be a challenge. If you cannot meet every request, meet what you can. We are a strong and blessed community and we have a lot that we can offer. There are many in our local community who have a happier holiday season because of the efforts that we make.

PLEASE NOTE: In recognition of the incredible work that our teachers continue to do, the archdiocese has granted us a day of appreciation for teachers and we will appreciate them by extending the Thanksgiving holiday by one day...SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSED MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29. (also, please note that this means one less day to collect cans to beat Holy Redeemer...so spend some time that Monday getting some cans together.)

Faithfully,
Chris Kelly
UPCOMING EVENTS

  • Thanksgiving Food Drive 11/15 - 11/17

  • Kids Coat Drive 11/15-11/17

  • 12:30 Dismissal 11/23

  • Thanksgiving Break 11/24-11/30

  • School will be closed 11/29!
The deadline to order lunch for any given week is the Tuesday before. Therefore, the deadline to order for November 22 is next
Tuesday, November 16.

Order online HERE!
 
 Click here to view the November lunch menu.  
Thanksgiving Food Drive Donations Due Wednesday!

Each class is asked to bring in the specific food items (see list), as well as a donation of $5.00 to buy turkeys and fresh groceries. These donations will be distributed to families served by the Spanish Catholic Center.

Please send in food and $5.00 cash donations by WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17th. 
K1 Greene-two packages of mac-n-cheese
K2 Williams- two cans of tuna
K3 Walsh Rogan- one large box of raisins
1A Vantine- two plastic jars of jelly
1B Jacobs- two boxes of cornbread
1C Cunningham- two bags or cans of beans
2A Kirlin- one jar of peanut butter 
2B Burns - two cans of pears
2C Hamilton- two boxes of cake mix
3A Rives -one large can of pumpkin
3B Olson- one box of dry milk
3C Albertson- two cans of tomatoes  
4A Weschler- two cans of cranberry sauce
4B Burke  - two cans of soup
4C Amaya- two cans of peaches
5A K. Tobin- two cans of evaporated milk
5B Markley- one medium bag of sugar
5C Scanlan- one box of breakfast cereal
6A Ryan- one large bag of flour
6B Matthews- one medium bottle of oil
6C McDaniel- one box of oatmeal
6D Lincoln - two packages of dry pasta 
7A Guitart- one box of low sugar cereal
7B Vu -two plastic jars of spaghetti sauce 
7C MacKinnon - two packages of pudding
7D Mazyck- two cans of vegetables
8A Fetters- one large bag of rice
8B Tobin- one large bag of rice
8C Schiller - one large bag/box of stuffing
8D McCann- one large bag/box of stuffing
Our 8th grade Christ Care Corps is collecting
COATS for KIDS
Donations due
Friday, November 19

*We are not collecting adult coats. 
                 
A reasonable goal= Each family donate one CLEAN kid's coat (Total would be about 300 coats)
                 
The dream goal= Each student donate one CLEAN kid's coat (Total would be about 500 coats)
MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR GIVING TUESDAY 
NOVEMBER 30, 2021

GivingTuesday is Blessed Sacrament School's biggest day of giving annually. It's a day where we ask you to support us and we ask you to support each other. 

Everyone has something to give and every act of generosity counts!
In honor of GivingTuesday, all students are asked to pledge to do something kind. It can be
something small but it should be something that requires just a little bit extra on that day. 

When you see a brightly colored slip of paper come home, please help make sure that the pledge gets written on it, SIGN IT, and send it back to school by November 29.

Our awesome student council is going to make a massive Paper Chain of Kindness to display before our next admissions Open House. We need many kind hearts to make this meaningful. Thank you!
On behalf of the 6th grade, thank you, for so graciously giving to the Gabriel Project this year. As a school, we impressively raised over $8,600, averaging about $17 per student.

Congratulations to Mrs. Albertson’s 3rd grade, topping all classes with their donation of $767, and to Mr. Markley’s 5th grade class, coming in a close second with $679.Ms. Each of these classes will be treated to either a pizza party or ice cream social to celebrate their gracious giving.

What an awesome testament to the generosity of this compassionate community!

If you happen upon any bottles in your home or child’s backpack, please be so kind as to return them so that they can be used in future GP fundraisers. And if there’s any money in those bottles, it is never too late for us to donate to these worthy organizations.

 Way to go CARING Bulldogs!
Calling all Basketball Uniforms!!

CYO basketball will begin the weekend of December 3rd. Due to the pandemic, many uniforms were not returned. Please label and drop off your child’s full uniform at the school or parish center next week so that we will have enough for all players. A bin will be placed for drop off. 

For any questions on the basketball season, please contact Mary Seidel at maryseidel@blessedsacramentdc.org 
Imaginative Prayer
This Advent use God's gift of imagination to get closer to Him.

Introductory Session
Sunday, November 21
9 to 10:15am
in the auditorium

School-age children and their parents, parents alone, couples, and individuals are ALL welcome.

This event is free but registration is required by Thursday, November 19.

This session will be led by Judy Zielinski, a longtime parishioner and Katie Krantz, a BSS mom.

For more information, please contact Jim & Ann Hoffman at hoffmanja2@msn.com or 202-486-8291.
Save The Date!
Saturday, December 4th.
Who is ready to feel the joy of GIVING?

Did you know the Giving Tree program provides Christmas gifts for over 700 children in need in our area? This year we will have an in-person gift donation and also have an online donation that will go towards gift cards for the families in need. In most cases your donation will be the only gift the child receives, so please consider giving generously! 

Click here to make an online donation. Donations will be accepted through Tuesday, November 30th.

Click here to request a star to provide gifts for a family in need. We will be collecting in-person gifts Saturday, December 11th from 8am-5:30pm & Sunday, December 12th from 8am-12:30pm in the Blessed Sacrament School auditorium.

If you have questions, please contact Anna Meenan, Mary Skorny, & Erin Sowanick at bsdcgivingtree@gmail.com. 

Thursday, December 16
Mamma Lucia
Bethesda & Chevy Chase Locations
5 to 9pm

Dine in, carryout, or order delivery!
Mention Blessed Sacrament at check out and 20% of sales benefit the school.

*4916 Elm Street
*5504 Connecticut Ave, NW
Support Blessed Sacrament!

It's shopping season and one of the easiest ways to support the HSA and our school is by shopping through Amazon Smile!   
 
Click here to shop Amazon and be sure to bookmark the link. Amazon will donate a percentage of all purchases to Blessed Sacrament.

If you use the Amazon Shopping app on your phone or tablet, go to the Settings menu and under Programs and Features click 'See all Programs' and click 'AmazonSmile'. Search "Shrine Most Blessed Sacrament" to add BSS to your rewards program. Then every time you shop Amazon on your phone/tablet, BSS will receive a percentage of your purchases, including orders from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods! Just remember to shop through the Amazon Smile Link! You can ask friends and family to consider registering as well!