There are so many children in need of food, clothing and shelter.  With so many basic necessities not met, some parents cannot even think about providing toys to their children at Christmas.  In order to support those families and lighten their hearts at Christmas, Mount Carmel organizes the annual “Advent Action” toy drive.

For many years, Mount Carmel students and faculty collected toys for an annual Christmas party hosted by a pediatric clinic at St. Bernard Hospital.  Since that clinic closed in 2017,  this year’s donations will go to a Food Pantry at St. Irenaeus Church in Park Forest.  The hope is that the hundreds of families at St. Irenaeus Church who come to the pantry for help with food also can go home with some toys for their children.

Mount Carmel’s goal was to collect at  least one toy from every student and faculty member, focusing on an age group from three to twelve year olds. Between the 650 toys that were donated to Studium, and nearly 100 that were donated at the recent Mother-Son Dance, the school reached its goal of 750 toys.

In addition to St. Irenaeus, some toys will be donated to the Kevin Dowling Foundation and to St. Martin de Porres Shelter in Woodlawn.

Mr. John Stimler, Director of Mission and Ministry, who organized this year’s drive, wants the students to know that little acts of generosity can make a difference to others.  He added that projects like Advent Action also have the benefit of helping students to “foster generosity.”