African American Catholic Community
The African American Catholic Community (AACC) scholarship committee of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe started a school supply drive for students in need at Catholic schools on church sites in January 2011. This effort, led by committee member Louise Davis in collaboration with the Superintendent of Catholic Schools, has provided school supplies and gift cards to principals for over 12 years.
The impact of the challenging economic times had reached many of the families who were struggling to provide their children with a Catholic education. In addition, the city-wide drive for school supplies each fall did not benefit Catholic school students, only students in public schools.
Queen of Heaven Catholic school was the pilot in January 2011. We followed the necessary procedures for each parish. For churches without schools on site, the Catholic Community had the opportunity to choose and adopt one of the ten Catholic elementary school in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.
The AACC scholarship committee placed a collection container in the vestibule of the churches and parishioners brought school supplies for three consecutive Sundays in August and January of each year. The supplies were collected and placed in a central place for distribution to the teachers before school started each semester. During COVID years personal supplies such as sanitizer, Clorox wipes, paper towels and gift cards were distributed.
The participation and response have been enthusiastically over the last 12 years.
