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Students in Jennifer Denney’s fourth grade class at Lafayette Christian School recently packed five boxes full of gifts to send to alumni who are currently serving in the military.

According to LCS Business Manager Wanda Peterson, each year the school hosts a community workday service project in part with a fundraiser.

This year, LCS extended the workday to a workweek.

“It’s a fundraiser we do every year,” Peterson said. “We use the funds for different things around campus, whether it’s upgrading technology, building improvements and things like that. This year the funds will go toward the Miracle League Field.”

The accessible, inclusive athletic field and complex will be a part of the 50- acre Lafayette Christian School Athletic Complex and adjacent to the existing Phase I of that complex.

“We have five students who graduated not too long ago that we knew were serving in the military and wanted to show our appreciation for them,” Peterson said. “We were able to get in touch with their parents and get their addresses.”

Peterson said the students also wrote personal notes to add to the box.

“There’s a gentleman from Pine Mountain who also just retired and graduated from LCS and retired back in April,” Peterson said. “They made a nice poster for him that said ‘happy retirement’ and made him up a little goody bag.”

Peterson said each class did something different to raise funds and make an impact in the community.

“My heart is missions,” Peterson said. “It touches my heart to see the kids giving back. Everything is not about us, and it’s about giving back and helping others. I hope these guys that are going to get these packages think back to when they were at LCS and doing a community workday. To see their faces would be awesome.”

LCS Superintendent of Schools John Cipolla said this year they had to get creative for the projects due to COVID. Cipolla said in the past they were able to go into the library, police stations and nursing homes.

“The kids gathered all the supplies for these boxes themselves and packaged them up,” Cipolla said. “Our mission statement is to impact the culture for Christ, and yes, this is a fundraiser, but that’s not the most important part of this. The most important part is for these kids to experience the joy of serving, to be made aware of the needs in the community and to be hands on.”