Summer Camp Time!

We know winter will finally end and soon it will be summer. It is time we start thinking of summer camps. Do you know of a great camp - or are you looking for a camp? We could use you advice and questions.

"Adopt-a-Family," Beyond the Giving Tree

Tina Namian, H&SA Rep to the Parish

You may have noticed at church this weekend, that there has been a change in the Giving Tree. In past years, you would have seen many different styles of gift tags on the trees with gifts going to more than 20 different area agencies. While we were able to provide many gifts to each group (around 1500 total each year), we were not able to meet the full need for most of the groups. This year, there has been an effort to refocus the Giving Tree on fewer groups that primarily serve the homeless (the issue chosen by the Social Justice Committee as a parish-wide focus for this year). The hope is that a more focused approach will allow us to make a bigger impact. The new coordinators also have made standard gift tags that provide a more uniform look to the trees. They are calling the project this year Giving Tree and Beyond.

Part of the "and Beyond" includes HTS. The new parish Giving Tree coordinators have asked HTS, the Religious Education classes, and the Young Adult Community to take on a bigger role in this parish-wide comunity service project. In the past, the HTS Student Council has made generic tags that they placed on a tree in the Upper School. Instead, this year, each class has been assigned one or more families that they will "adopt" for the holidays.

The families are all involved with a group called Hope and a Home (see http://www.hopeandahome.org/). Hope and a Home, which was previously part of For Love of Children, operates 18 affordable apartments in the Columbia Heights neighborhood and works with residents living in subsidized housing in the Shaw neighborhood. The mission of Hope and a Home is to enable parents and children to achieve permanent housing, educational success, rewarding work, and family stability.

HTS has been provided with the Christmas gift wish lists for the children of the families living in the Columbia Heights apartments. The HSA reps have the lists for the families assigned to their classes. Through the Room Parents, the HSA reps will communicate with the parents regarding each classes' particular plans. This year, we decided to keep it simple and suggest that one or two parents be responsible for shopping for the gifts and the other parents and children donate money towards the gifts. Each class will have a box for monetary donations and children are encouraged to donate some of their own money.

It is very important that the students be involved and feel that they are a part of this project. As part of our emphasis on social justice, this gives children a chance to think about families in our city that may not be as fortunate as our own. The children can be personally involved in this project by donating part of their allowance, helping to wrap the gifts, making holiday decorations for the families, shopping for gifts with their parents, and talking with their parent about these families. Hopefully, many other great ideas for involving the students will come out of the next two weeks.

Project due dates:
Monetary donations are due to each classroom by December 11.
The gifts must be purchased, wrapped, and brought to school by December 18.

I will be following this blog throughout the month to answer any questions. Please feel free to share ideas for classes, reps and parents!

Welcome to the HTSHSA Blog

Dear Parents and Members of the HTS-HSA Community --
Welcome to the first HSA blog. We're launching this as we get ready for another exciting year at Holy Trinity School. We hope this tool will be a convenient way to communicate with one another, learn what's going on in the HSA, get information and questions answered by sharing collective wisdom, and stay connected to school and HSA activities and information --we encourage the use of the comment feature to provide your feed back, comments, questions, and concerns, especially when in person meetings don't always work in your schedule. Please let us know what you think!

Blog Use and Guidelines

This blog has been created as a convenient way to communicate with one another, learn what's going on in the HSA, get information and questions answered by sharing collective wisdom, and stay connected to school and HSA activities and information. We ask that all users please use discretion when posting. This is not intended to be a forum for discussion of personnel issues or other school matters that are better handled through face-to-face communication.

HSA Mission

The mission of the Holy Trinity Home & School Association (HSA) is to provide a structure where parents partner with the administration and faculty to support the spiritual and academic excellence of the children of Holy Trinity School.

Role of the HSA

The role of the HTS Home & School Association (HSA) is to support our school community by connecting families, facilitating communication, raising funds, and working in collaboration with teachers and school staff to create an outstanding environment for the education of our children. Each family is automatically a member of the HSA and all HSA matters are intended to handled in a manner highly transparent to all in the school community. In situations where challenges or concerns arise, it is the role of the HSA to gather useful input and communicate it to the school leadership to take appropriate action. If you have any questions regarding the role or functions of the HTS HSA, please feel free to contact one of the many HSA representatives or officers listed on this blog page.

Get Involved

We always need Volunteers for various positions and HSA projects.  If you are interested in participating in the HSA please contact us at Jill Casasola