Children’s church class in Victoria honors health care workers through messages of hope

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Over the holiday season Kate, Lila and their catechism class peers from St Joseph the Worker Parish put together their own rendition of 'This Little Light of Mine', a way to say thank you to the front-line workers at Victoria's Kiwanis Pavilion care facility.

It’s a music video with a powerful message.

“We wanted to say it’ll be alright,” said nine-year-old Kate Araujo, standing next to her friend Lila.

Over the holiday season Kate, Lila and their catechism class peers from St Joseph the Worker Parish put together their own rendition of ‘This Little Light of Mine’, a way to say thank you to the front-line workers at Victoria’s Kiwanis Pavilion care facility.

“They take care of the elderly people and the elderly people are, like, very fragile because they’re getting older and it’s a big job to do,” said Lila.

One of the residents at Kiwanis is Teresa Esperanza Valverde, Kate Araujo’s grandmother. Kate says her grandmother is in good spirits thanks to the Kiwanis Pavilion staff going above and beyond. In addition to the song tribute, the group also came together to provide a week’s worth of lunches via Red Barn Market, with the kids adding more messages of hope on each individual paper lunch bag.

“That’s what we try to teach them, that they can show great love to people by doing small things,” said Angela Grohovac, religious education coordinator at St. Joseph the Worker Parish. “I think that they are taking our teaching and they are running with it, and it was beautiful.”

And in these lunch bags, Nurses and staff recognize it’s much more than your mid-day meal.

“So it really makes the staff feel loved and cared for,” said Shannon Johnson, Kiwanis Pavilion director of resident services. “They’ve made a lot of sacrifices over the past ten months regarding not seeing their families and staying in their bubbles.”

It’s a class project providing moral support for our frontline heroes in a time of need.

“I get emotional with all the outpouring of love and especially from the children, because the pandemic has played a part on them and their social circles and their mental well being and to see them care about other people is just really heartwarming and really means a lot to the whole team here,” said Johnson.

And showing support is something these children genuinely enjoy.

“It feels really good because you know you’re helping people and helping them feel happy,” said Lila.

Kevin CharachKevin Charach

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