Eagle's Edge
St. Therese Family Newsletter - April 28, 2021
On Being A Mom...
Today marks my 17th anniversary of motherhood - my firstborn came into the world at 8:16 a.m. on April 28, 2004 and it changed my life forever. Suddenly all of my life existed outside of myself and in his tiny 8 pound, 5 ounce body.
I imagine this is how our Holy Mother felt when she locked eyes with her tiny baby, Jesus, for the very first time. I imagine how she reacted to the rush of a mother's love as it poured into her. How she hurt for her son when he suffered, and how she hurts for us in our suffering as well.
Tonight I reflect on motherhood, and on all the ways that it has enriched my life. I reflect on Our Lady, and all the ways my heart reaches for her just as my hand reaches for my own mother. I encourage you all to reach for her and pray the rosary with your children. As we approach May, the month of Mary, talk as a family about how you can build your relationship with her. Can you say a decade of the rosary together each night? Maybe even in the car on the way to school in the morning? Can you set up an altar in your home so that you remember her throughout the day? Can you light a candle and set up a photo of Mary, bringing her fresh flowers? I challenge you to talk to her, bring her into your home, and into your daily lives and I will work to do the same.
Being a mom is the toughest job I've ever had, but the most rewarding. Let's work together to strengthen our relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that we can better understand and appreciate her love for us.
God bless you all,
Rosemarie El Youssef
Principal, St. Therese School
503-253-9400 ext. 122
PLANT SALE PICKUP - Saturday, May 1st
SchoolStore Fundraising
This safe and easy fundraiser is 100% online so there is no face-to-face selling, collecting money, or delivering products.
If family members are unhappy with the emails and reminders to participate, please let them know that they can scroll to the bottom of the email and unsubscribe from future emails.
Go to https://www.schoolstore.net/sid.t?119532 to learn more about how this program can support our school!
Updated Case Rates 4/24/2021
The impacts of COVID-19 are hitting a little closer to home now, and we just want everyone to be safe. Please support our efforts by reminding your students to wear their masks properly, wash/sanitize hands, and keep a safe distance from their peers. We encourage you all to continue to practice safety when you are out and about with your family and friends.
Thank you for all that you do to help keep our students and families safe!
Travel and Quarantine
We require that anyone who travels outside of Oregon for any reason plan for being away from school for 10 days following their return. The new guidance (attached here) included a slight adjustment to 7 days with a negative COVID test and no symptoms.
If you or anyone in your household travels, you won't meet our health requirements and will need to learn from home for 7-10 days following your return. St. Therese staff follows these same safety rules and will likewise quarantine at home following any travel outside of Oregon.
Schools in Multnomah County are advised to consider travel for K-12 sports to be non-essential, regardless of the update from the Oregon Health Authority. This has to do with the case rates tied to sports teams, and the variance of restrictions between states and counties - we can't guarantee that other states will follow the same rules we do in Oregon, and we have a responsibility to keep our community safe.
Please call the office as soon as possible to notify us about any plans for travel that will include your student accessing distance learning for a period of time so that we can inform teachers and make arrangements to get you the necessary learning materials.
We appreciate all that you do to keep our community safe, and our students learning at school with us.
Now enrolling preschool and pre-kindergarten!
If you have any questions, please give us a call! You can find information about tuition for our programs on our website, https://www.stthereseschool.org/little-flower-preschool - we look forward to a full group this fall!
Enrollment Opportunities
We have so much to offer children and their families - please help us get the word out!
St. Vincent de Paul - UPDATES
QUILT RAFFLE. St Therese St Vincent de Paul is raffling a quilt. It is queen size and multi-colored. You can purchase tickets after the weekend masses or call Shasta Hatter at 503-253-7566. The drawing is June 9th. Thank you for your support.
Volunteer opportunity: St Vincent de Paul is in need of delivery drivers. We need substitute drivers for Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Drivers on a rotating basis are needed for Saturday morning. Usual start time is around 9 am and shifts are 1 1//2 to 2 hours. Training provided. Must be able to carry 25 pound boxes up stairs. Please call Shasta Hatter at 503-253-7566 for more information or to volunteer.
If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please contact Shasta Hatter at the SVdP office 503-253-7566.
BottleDrop Thursdays
We are so grateful for your generosity! With your donations we purchased a Distance Learning T-shirt for each student and staff member to wear on Fridays, prizes for spirit week, and the pumpkins for our St. Therese Pumpkin Patch. We recently purchased an eagle mascot costume and our new mascot will soon be visiting classrooms to learn what it means to be a St. Therese Eagle!
The school budget is tight this year, but there are some things that we believe students shouldn't go without - your can and bottle donations make this happen!
Parents' Club Corner
Here is the Parents' Club schedule of meetings for the rest of the school year.
Minutes from the last meeting on 4/21/21 are attached below.
UPDATE on Field Day/Sponsorship Drive attached below.
Final Meeting:
5/19
Please contact Melanie Reyna at 503-467-1805 or via email at melanie.reyna@usbank.com with any questions.
Parent Obligations for the Year - Fair Share and Fundraising
If we all work together, we can make this happen!
Rather than having MANY events with specific obligations, we have one financial obligation for each family.
Dual-parent household - $500 (fundraised or donated)
Single-parent household - $300 (fundraised or donated)
This replaces the auction basket obligation, auction project obligation, jog-a-thon, and raffle.
If we make our goal of $36,000 and everyone pitches in, there is no reason to bill people for what they aren't able to fundraise.
Our goal is to have one BIG fundraiser in the spring - if we can generate enough money to fulfill our obligation to the school our tuition won't go up. Jog-a-thon seems doable with the changing of the metrics and there are MANY ways we can get creative to make it happen.
The key to making this happen is ALL of us working together!
You are not expected to figure out how to fundraise on your own - but come to Parents' Club meetings and share your ideas. We are always better together! Our next PC meeting on January 20th will be focused on brainstorming ideas for fundraisers.
School Office Hours 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
St. Therese Catholic School
Email: elyoussefr@stthereseschool.org
Website: stthereseschool.org
Location: 1260 Northeast 132nd Avenue, Portland, OR, USA
Phone: (503) 253-9400
Facebook: Facebook.com/StThereseSchoolPortlandOrFamilyPage
Twitter: @sttherese_pdx