By Jessica Easthope
They may be far away, but students here at St. Ephrem Catholic Academy are sending more than prayers to Los Angeles, and making their own efforts towards supporting community recovery initiatives.
There wasn’t a uniform in sight Jan. 17 as students and faculty at the Dyker Heights, Brooklyn school prayed for those who lost everything in the deadly Los Angeles area fires.
The students donated two dollars each to “dress down,” and the school’s principal Michael Phillips is hoping to send around $400 to California.
“I kept watching videos of everybody that was losing their belongings, losing their livelihood, their childhood homes, some even perishing and losing their lives. And I said, ‘we have to do something,’” he explains. “We have to show our students that our community transcends more than just the Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst area, that it also transcends 3000 miles away.”
They’re not just dressing down, but students’ families have also donated clothing, shoes, and canned food in an effort to do their part from the East Coast.
Among the students collecting dress down money from their classmates were the Riches siblings, Thomas and Abigail, whose father is an FDNY captain.
“Hopefully, the firefighters at least help [fix] the destruction that was caused by what happened. And I’m hoping everyone’s okay,” Thomas tells Currents News. “I hope California is fine. The wildfires are gone, and everyone gets a home eventually.”
“I hope that all the wildfires are gone because all the firefighters are working a lot and I feel bad,” adds Abigail.
St. Ephrem will be making their donation through Catholic Charities Brooklyn & Queens. They expect to drop off the money and donations in the following week, where it will soon make its way to California.