CHARLOTTE — They may only be in elementary school, but Sarah and RJ Witterstaetter are already making a difference in their community.
Inspired with a desire to help the homeless this Lent, the two made a plan to collect donations for the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte near uptown.
Sarah is in the fourth grade and her brother RJ is in the second grade at St. Matthew School in south Charlotte.
They began their collection of items on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14. The siblings set an initial goal of 214 items to commemorate the month and day the drive started. They shared word of their outreach efforts with their family, friends and local school and parish community via a post by their mother, Cindy Witterstaetter, on a social media website.
“We thought their goal was aggressive but figured anything collected would help those in need,” Witterstaetter said. “Several people have given to us, strangers have showed up with items, and we went to many homes to collect items.”
Word spread and by March 1, the end of their collection timeframe, the children had collected 441 items for the men’s shelter. Included in this total were also items they purchased with money from their own piggy banks.
Sarah and RJ brought their donations to the men’s shelter on March 5. There they were met by Tom Ellis, St. Matthew Church’s liaison to the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte. They also met with the shelter’s director for philanthropy, Randall Hitt, and Ann Marie Elmayan, the volunteer engagement manager.
St. Matthew School students Sarah and RJ Witterstaetter were presented with a certificate of achievement from the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte on March 5 for collecting more than 441 items to help the homeless men who receive services at the shelter on North Tryon Street in Charlotte. (Photo provided by the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte Facebook page)“Randall presented them with a certificate of achievement for their efforts,” Witterstaetter said. “We took a tour of the shelter to learn more about the services they offer and to see the reality of how the shelter works.
“This was a very eye-opening closure to their campaign and gave them a realization of how truly blessed their lives are every day and how meaningful these products are to the men who are served by the shelter.”
Witterstaetter and her husband Rich are proud of their children’s efforts.
“We pray every single day as a family for guidance on the best ways to help those in need in our community and this is a focal point of their Catholic education at St. Matthew School and in our parish,” she said. “We are so proud and blessed that Sarah and RJ heard a calling in their hearts to help those in need and that they wanted to put a plan into action to make it happen. We couldn’t be more thankful for our children.”
Sarah and RJ simply wanted, as Witterstaetter shared, “to help those in need. They are sad that many people are homeless in our community and they wanted to help them. They were ecstatic with how well their campaign went and were so humbled to take the items themselves to the shelter.”
The Men’s Shelter of Charlotte posted some photos of Sarah and RJ on its Facebook page the day they dropped off the donations.
The post on March 5 read, “Meet RJ and Sarah, 8 and 10 respectively, and members of St. Matthew Catholic Church! They decided to do some good. And good they did, in fact, GREAT they did. They collected 441 items for our men! Incredible and so generous. Happy Monday for us! Friends show them some love. #BestDonorsEver #DonorsCo-meInAllSizes.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
CHARLOTTE — St. Gabriel Church’s Deacon Larry O’Toole stands with the fifth-grade students from St. Gabriel School after the students performed a Passion Play during the days leading up to Easter, a tradition at the school for many years.
— Photo provided by Father Frank O’Rourke