Norwood Fontbonne Academy

Outreach

What is Outreach?

It means just that - reaching out. Extending our prayers, thoughts, compassion generosity, and love beyond ourselves; beyond our walls; beyond our community.

The Outreach Program at Norwood-Fontbonne Academy finds its roots in Gospel values, the principals of Catholic Social Teaching and, thus, our own Service Learning Program.

Opportunities for creative collections, projects,, and prayer are offered throughout the year (usually on a monthly or seasonal basis). Many of these opportunities are the same from year to year, building upon the relationships we have formed with different schools and organizations. A number of the opportunities, though, are new each year based on specific needs of others or on the focus of the Norwood-Fontbonne community.

Projects ranging from collecting, assembling, and decorating Thanksgiving Dinner Baskets for families in the St. Hugh of Cluny parish to raising funds through student initiated projects to support the relief efforts in Haiti (through Catholic Relief Services). Our community also comes together on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to make a day off a "day on." Beginning with a prayer service designed to echo the words of Dr. King, students and their families assemble "hygiene bags" (shampoo, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc.) and make sandwiches, all of which are then delivered to St. John's Hospice in Philadelphia. Other past projects have included a gift-giving program during the Christmas season in relationship with Guadalupe Family Services in Camden Operation Rice Bowl through Catholic Relief Services, collections to support the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, "Tithing Treats" in support of our troops serving abroad through the Adam Conboy Memorial Fund, etc.

No matter the season there are always opportunities to "reach out" and help our dear neighbor. As a Catholic school sponsored by the Sisters of Saint Joseph, unity is a driving force in our everyday lives. As such, we put great energy and focus into the importance of extending ourselves outside of our comfort zones so that we may, one by one and step by step, make the world one.

Norwood Fontbonne Academy • 8891 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia PA 19118
Phone (215) 247-3811 Fax (215) 247-8405