St. Rose School Creates a Culture of Compassion and Service

PORTLAND, Ore. (January 6, 2021) - St. Rose School — a pre-k through 8th grade Catholic school offering full-day pre-kindergarten and kindergarten — continues to instill a commitment to service in its students, despite pandemic restrictions.

Service has always been integral to St. Rose School, so they had to get creative when distance learning kicked in last spring. Less than a month into Oregon’s stay-home orders, they completed their first drive-thru service project. 

School families and parishioners built sack lunches in their homes and made safe drop-offs in the school’s parking lot, providing over 400 meals to our most vulnerable neighbors at Blanchet House. Since then, they’ve made drive-thrus part of their routine.

The school’s service ethic transcends enrollment, shaping young citizens well beyond the elementary school years. For their most recent Christmastime project, St. Rose School’s Student Leadership Team (led by middle school teachers, Katie Penwell and Stefan Marineau) collected gloves, socks and hygiene items. Class of 2020 graduate, Sante Storm, came back to help his dad, Eric, transport the resulting care kits over to Blanchet House. 

Another St. Rose alum, Emily Harrington, sits on Blanchet House’s board and feels that same connection to service. “The efforts of St. Rose students helped prevent interruption of Blanchet’s meal service—even allowing Blanchet to extend its reach to other unsheltered communities during a global pandemic. St. Rose School offered a sustainable and highly impactful solution during a very difficult time for our city.”  

She adds, “I believe my parents chose St. Rose for my siblings and I because of the priority they place on service to others. I’m pleased that this remains part of St. Rose’s tradition.” 

With the help of their families, classmates and teachers, St. Rose School students are learning what it means to be human. And because of them, the future looks very bright.