Dear St. Jerome Families,

As we approach Thanksgiving, we at St. Jerome want to thank all of you for your help and support from home. Working together, we can continue to help our students grow in faith and knowledge.

Our drop off lines in the school yard have been going smoothly, but we do have a couple of reminders:

• The City of Philadelphia has designated much of Stamford Street by the school as a no stopping zone with posted signs. However, cars have been stopping and letting out on Stamford Street in the bus and no stopping zone. This creates hazards for our walkers, could lead to collisions with vehicles, as well as holds up traffic in both directions.
• If you are dropping off at Stamford Street, please park on a side street and make sure that your children cross safely. We do encourage all families to use the car lines in the school parking lot.
• When using our car lines, please make sure your children are ready to exit the car when you stop. We have been doing so much better with this, but I did want to put out the reminder.
• Finally, if you are dropping in the school yard, please pull as far forward as safely possible. We unload at all of the school yard doors, and the staff members will assist the students if necessary.
• Thank you all for your help and cooperation!

Tomorrow, Thursday, is a St. Jerome Spirit Wear Day; all donations will benefit our student activities. For a donation, students in 1st-8th grades may wear their gym uniform or any St. Jerome t-shirt (they may also wear the grey spirit wear sweatpants if they have them as well). Students in Pre-K3, Pre-K4, and Kindergarten should follow their teachers' directions. All proceeds raised will go toward purchasing two Christmas trees, one for each building, and the classes are making ornaments to decorate the trees. Fr. Reilly will bless the trees at a school prayer service in December. Donations may be sent in Thursday morning as cash or check or sent via Venmo (@sjsphila).

Next Wednesday is an early dismissal; the students will be dismissed at 11:30 AM. Also on Wednesday, Fr. Reilly will celebrate our November School Liturgy at 10:00 AM. With the Thanksgiving holiday, there will be no school next Thursday or Friday. Classes will resume on Monday, November 28th.

As a reminder, lunch orders, milk, and December Thursday lunch orders are due tomorrow.

Please keep the Zorawski family in your prayers; Mrs. Z's mother-in-law, Donna Zorawski, passed away yesterday. Mrs. Carolan and I are making sure that her classes are covered so that she can be with her family during this difficult time.

For the second year, St. Jerome Church and School have been selected by Archbishop Perez to pilot The Culture Project as they bring their ministry to Philadelphia. The Culture Project works with 7th-12th graders and specifically seeks to teach Catholic values and offer reinforcement to the material taught in the 7th and 8th grade religion curriculum. They will be here tomorrow to work with the 7th & 8th graders. More information was sent to our 7th & 8th grade classes via email, Remind, and/or Google Classroom. The students last year enjoyed hearing from the Culture Project, and we are excited to welcome them back.

Please keep the 7th grade Confirmation candidates in your prayers as they have their liturgical rite, officially marking their candidacy, this weekend at the 9:30 AM Mass. Also, please pray for our 2nd graders as they prepare for their First Penance next Tuesday at 7:00 PM.

Have a great week; St. Jerome and St. Lucy, pray for us!

The Student Council will be conducting a Thanksgiving Food Drive to benefit our friends at the St. Jerome Food Bank. Each grade will be asked to donate one item from the list below. We respectfully request that no expired items be brought in. Thank you for your support in helping out this Thanksgiving! All donations are due by November 22nd, 2022; Student Council will sort and deliver the items to the Food Bank.

• Pre-K3 and Pre-K4: Apple Juice
• Kindergarten: Pancake Mix and Pancake Syrup
• 1st Grade: Stove top Stuffing
• 2nd Grade: Peanut Butter and Jelly
• 3rd Grade: Cereal
• 4th grade: Canned Potatoes
• 5th Grade: Instant Potatoes
• 6th Grade: Spaghetti Sauce
• 7th Grade: Tuna
• 8th Grade: Mac and Cheese

Children's Scholarship Fund Philadelphia offers partial scholarships to K-8th grade students,

and for the first time ever, scholarships will no longer be restricted to four years. A student

who wins the CSFP scholarship lottery will receive a scholarship all the way through 8th grade

as long as they meet income and qualification requirements!

Eligibility requirements include:

• Philadelphia resident
• At least one child entering K-8th grade in September 2023
• Meet CSFP’s financial requirements

CSFP’s scholarship application is now available for the 2023-2024 school year. If you are

selected this year, funds will be applied towards the 2023-2024 school year tuition. Beginning

next year, no student will receive less than $1,200 in scholarship.

We hope that this information is helpful to you. Should you have any questions, please reach

out to CSFP directly at paperwork@csfphiladelphia.org.

www.csfphiladelphia.org/scholarship