There is no better feeling in your childhood than waking up on Christmas morning and seeing all of the gifts under the tree.

On Monday, December 22, hundreds of children who may not get to open presents on Christmas morning will get that chance a little early. A pediatric clinic led by Dr. Jean Muscadin and his wife, Dr. Marie Muscadin, will have its annual Christmas party for kids at St Bernard hospital. Hundreds of children are expected to attend the party. Every child who attends will receive a toy.

Mount Carmel student volunteers will be stacked over 900 toys into buses and delivered them to the hospital on December 18. Mr. Scott Sortal, head of the Service Club, supervised the delivery, along with students who had been recognized as “Student of the Month” this fall. The clinic staff at the St. Bernard Hospital will sort (by age and gender) and wrap the toys in preparation for Monday’s party.

In addition to the toys collected for St Bernard Hospital, the 110 toys collected at the Mother – Son dance have been donated to the Kevin Dowling Foundation.  These toys are distributed to children at various hospitals o the south side.  A “wish list” of specific toys also were donated to children at the St. Martin de Porres Shelter in Woodlawn.

Overall, the school raised over 1100 toys for the three charities, far surpassing the original target of 600 toys.  “It is great to see our school rally around this task and help make a lot of kids’ holidays better,” says senior Bob Stasaitis.