“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
(Joshua 1:9)
In this week’s newsletter you will read about volunteers needed for Saturday, Open enrollment, Track and Field season, March Playground Angels needed, pictures for sale of students, Mother’s Day Hanging Baskets for sale, the saint of the week, PTC movie TURBO, Yearbook committee is collecting pictures, how to order a yearbook, Dress Uniform for Thursday, Kids Heart Challenge in P.E., Soup Supper for students, Whatcom Hospice information, Fairhaven program for 9th/10th graders, employment opportunities, Upcoming events and much more!
Thank you for reading.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” —Romans 12:12
Remember Mass and Dress Uniform tomorrow (Thursday, March 23rd)
And No school Mass on Friday. Thank you!
“Protecting God’s Children” is now offered online with flexible participation!
If you are new to the school or were not able to complete “Protecting God’s Children” to volunteer for the school, there is a new and more convenient way to complete this.
They are now offering an online, asynchronous (you can complete on your own time) version that takes approximately 90 minutes to complete. Visit https://www.virtusonline.org/ and create a login by using Seattle, WA (Archdiocese of Seattle) as your location. From there, go to “Current Training” and scroll to the bottom of the classes offered to find “Protecting God’s Children for Adults (Online Training).
We hope this provides a greater opportunity for families to meet their volunteer hours. Email Angie King at aking@assumption.school if you have additional questions.
Yearbooks For Sale- Last Chance to Buy!
Step 1: Visit www.memorybook.com/online-pay/parent-pay/
Step 2: Enter your school code 189029 then click “Go to your school account login”
Step 3: Click on the link below your school’s name.
Step 4: Login if returning or new users click Register
Step 5: Buy a yearbook for $30.00 through April 21, 2023
**If you did order a yearbook, you should have gotten a confirmation email immediately after purchase. Again, it would be from “authnet” and please check their Spam folder or Junk folder for confirmation.
Please call the help line for Support, (877) 302-3140, and any parent that needs assistance ordering or has questions about an order they have placed feel free to call the help line. Also, you can ask questions directly to our Co-Chairs of the yearbook, Kelly Segel and Emily Hoza at acsyearbookphotos@gmail.com
Please Help! Volunteers Needed on Saturday, March 25th
Please add to your calendars- Saturday, March 25th, 9:30-11:30 for a spring work party at Assumption Catholic School, hosted by parishioners, Janis Jacobs and Jan Ochs. Here is a chance to earn school volunteer hours, meet other parents, and beautify our campus grounds. Some gardening tools will be provided along with cookies and water. All ages are welcome, and please bring leaf rakes and your children can help fill the bags. This is happening in rain or shine as the fallen leaves and debris need assistance getting into bags! Don’t forget your gloves.
Preschool Auction Project Opportunity
With all the interest and love for our 1st preschool auction project, Prayer Hands, our wonderful photographer, Lee Eberheart, created a print that is similar to the artwork created by the preschool class. These prints are 20 x 30 and would be a great addition to anyone’s home. Each print is $25.
If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Lisa Twining at growinggreatkidsauction@gmail.com.
PLAYGROUND ANGELS ARE NEEDED!
Keep plugging away at your volunteer hours by signing up to be a Playground Angel. Our children’s safety is a top priority! Thank you for your help in keeping recess fun and safe!
Fun Run is coming May 2023!
The sun is out! It is getting time to run!
I know our Assumption family is gearing up for another successful Fun Run! This year our Fun Run will take place on Thursday, May 18th on the school grounds from 1 pm to 3 pm.
Do you still need to fulfill your volunteer hours? There will be a SignUp Genius where you can help fulfill those hours with an added bonus- they count towards your fundraising hours.
This year the Fun Run will be led by Jen Sheafor, Jhoanna Antonio and Eloisa Townsend. Keep an eye out for more information to follow in the upcoming weeks. acsfunrun@gmail.com
KIDS HEART CHALLENGE
Kids Heart Challenge Update!
Assumption students have currently saved 106 hearts as of this morning. What an amazing example of almsgiving during this Lenten season. Thank you for everyone who has participated in our event to raise money and awareness for the American Heart Association. Our event runs through March 31st so there still is time to give if you feel called to. KHC has gone mostly virtual this year with a big push to signing up online and collecting online donations.
If you have physical donations (cash or checks) you can turn them in to the office and we will process them for you. Please make sure to have checks written out to The American Heart Association and label your donation with your child’s full name, homeroom teacher, and shirt size if they have raised over $50.
Visit our school page at http://www2.heart.org/goto/Assumption or download the Kids Heart Challenge app to register. Thank you for all your HEART work supporting our school and the American Heart Association!
If you have any questions about how to sign up or have trouble creating an account, please reach out to our parent coordinator Sarah Robinson at fergygirl2001@yahoo.com.
Mother’s Day Hanging Baskets!
(Just in time to celebrate the moms in your life!)
We are excited to partner with Van Wingerden Greenhouses to offer premium 12” hanging baskets with several varieties of baskets to choose from at pick up.
Since 1980, Van Wingerden has a well-known reputation for growing the most beautiful hanging baskets in the Pacific Northwest.
Pick up Dates: May 5th and 6th Pick up Times TBD closer in May
Questions? Please email Lynette Machinski (lynette_machinski@yahoo.com)
This fundraiser will support Assumption’s Class of 2023!
Orders due by March 31! See flyer Here!
CO-CURRICULAR PROGRAMS
Track and Field
Practices are after school from 3:15 to 4:15pm. If you have any questions, please call the office or contact Mr. Costanza at mcostanza@assumption.school
Meet schedule to come soon.
PTC CONNECTIONS
Lights, Camera, Action! MOVIE NIGHT is coming Saturday, March 25th. Admission is free to see Turbo! Concessions will be available (no pizza this time). Doors will open at 6:30 and the movie starts at 7pm. Kids can bring blankets or sleeping bags and spread out on mats on the gym floor.
Parents need to remain at the event with their children, and are welcome to bring camp chairs, but gym chairs will also be set up.
There is also a need for help at the movie night. Please use this link for signing up.
Missoula Children’s Theater is coming to Assumption May 1-6!
This is a great opportunity for all students to take part in a live theater production of Rumpelstiltskin!
We are looking for one family who is willing to host one of the wonderful MCT directors in your home for the week. It’s a great opportunity for your child(ren) to hear what it’s like behind the scenes of production and you are doing a great service for a well-loved event. Bonus of 10 volunteer hours! If you are interested in getting more information please contact Tia Entrikin, our volunteer coordinator. duttontia@gmail.com.
Photos Needed For Yearbooks!
Greetings to all families! If you have taken photos from the beginning of the year including first day of school and throughout the year of your children, we would love to compile them for the yearbook! If you have sibling photos, too, send them our way!
Please… Please send them in jpeg format to ACSyearbookphotos@gmail.com
Thank you from the Yearbook Committee!
Kelly Segel & Emily Hoza
OTHER NEWS
Lenten Information
Lenten Resolution – Daily Mass or Exposition or Stations of the Cross?
Check out your local parish for the times.
Employment Opportunities at School
Four vacancies for next school year have been posted to the school’s website. Please refer people to this page for application information and job descriptions. The four postings include: Spanish K-5, Physical Education/EDP Director and Library Media Specialist. LINK HERE
Assumption School Lenten Soup Supper
You have an opportunity to earn parish or school volunteer hours! ACS will host the Lenten Soup Supper at the Church of the Assumption on Friday, 3/31 starting at 5:00 pm with set-up, and we would love to get some help from families and students. We need about 14 volunteers to take a two-hour shift. Let’s share our students’ Lenten projects and journeys with the parish community. See flyer here!
As a bonus, there will be lots of delicious homemade soup and bread! Please sign up using the link below.
Sign-up link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050444A9AC23A3FF2-331
If anyone has any questions, please email Angie Huynh at Huynh.graphic@gmail.com
Auction pictures of students are for sale
On the wall near the office and in a nearby box, you can find portraits of your children for sale. Come and see how great your kids look in their school environment. Thank you to parent, Lee Eberhardt, for his photography throughout the year.
Priced at only $15.
Fairhaven Program for 9th and 10th Grades
Donald Antenen is the founder of a new program in Bellingham for 9th and 10th graders that he is promoting at middle schools around town: www.fairhavenprogram.org. He started the program to fill the gap between 8th grade and Running Start for families in Whatcom County who want alternatives to public school. It combines classics, mathematics, local native history, and botany with the goal of cultivating self-directed learners. See the attached flyer to find out more.
Whatcom Hospice- Free Summer Camp for Children’s Grief Support
We wanted to share with you a new opportunity for children in our community. This year Whatcom Hospice is starting a grief camp for children ages 6-12. It will be an overnight camp in August, Camp Kaleidoscope, for children who have experienced the death of a significant person. We are hoping to add space for teenagers in the future years.
Attached is information for Camp Kaleidoscope including a cover letter, Flyer with Frequently Asked Questions on the back and an application. Please reach out if you or families have any additional information as Whatcom Hospice would be happy to share more about the camp.
Contact Louine “Lulu” Verneuil, LICSW at 360-733-5877
Cover letter and flyer here.
WALKING WITH THE SAINTS
We hope that you will enjoy learning about how saints are a great example of holiness, strength, and courage one day at a time. Please remember that your name and guess of each week’s saint needs to be in by Tuesday afternoon. The drawing of all correct answers happens on Wednesday morning. Thank you to all the students submitting their answers.
Last week: St. Dominic Savio
Congratulations to Emery Shoff! She is the winner this week.
New Saint: He is one of the world’s most popular saints. He was born in Roman Britain and when he was fourteen or so, he was captured by Irish pirates during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. At the time, Ireland was a land of Druids and pagans, but this young man turned to God and wrote his memoir, The Confession. In The Confession, he wrote:
“The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”
His captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain and was reunited with his family.
A few years after returning home, then he saw a vision he described in his memoir:
“I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: ‘The Voice of the Irish.’ As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea-and they cried out, as with one voice: ‘We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.'”
The vision prompted his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years, and was later ordained a bishop and sent to take the Gospel to Ireland.He arrived in Slane, Ireland on March 25, 433. There are several legends about what happened next, with the most prominent claiming he met the chieftan of one of the druid tribes, who tried to kill him. After an intervention from God, this saint was able to convert the chieftain and preach the Gospel throughout Ireland. There, he converted many people -eventually thousands – and he began building churches across the country.
He often used shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity and entire kingdoms were eventually converted to Christianity after hearing Patrick’s message.
He preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.He died at Saul, where he had built the first Irish church. He is believed to be buried in Down Cathedral, Downpatrick. His grave was marked in 1990 with a granite stone.
Who is this saint? ________________
UPCOMING CALENDAR ITEMS:
March 23rd – Thursday: Dress Uniform for School Mass 8:15am
March 24th– No School Mass today
March 25th – PTC Movie Night 7pm in the gym
March 31st – 6th Grade Prayer in the Garden/7th Stations of the Cross 2pm and Lenten Soup Supper in the gym after Stations of the Cross at 6pm.
April 3rd to 7th – Spring Break
April 9th – Easter Day! Let us Rejoice and Be Glad!
April 17th – Pizza Lunch Day
April 17th – Principal’s Coffee Time @ 8am in the Library
April 22nd– Father/Daughter Dance 7pm in the Gym
April 23rd – 10am Mass with School Choir
April 26/27th – Class picture Days
