Advent joy

SEASON OF GIVING  Confirmation students at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Pompton Plains are contributing to a Reverse Advent Calendar food and personal-products drive to benefit a local food pantry. Young people shown with some of their donations are (from top): Amanda Shore, Thomas Boyle and Emma Jung.

POMPTON PLAINS  Confirmation students at Our Lady of Good Counsel (OLGC) Parish here have been taking great joy in buying items on their list and checking it twice to benefit a different — and creative — type of food drive for the local poor during a very different holiday season this year: a Reverse Advent Calendar.

Since Tuesday, Dec. 1, students in the OLGC’s Confirmation prep program have been buying or collecting non-perishable food and personal products — one for each day of Advent until Thursday, Dec. 24 — and will drop them off at the Pequannock Township Food Pantry after Christmas Day. It follows the tradition of the Advent Calendar, used to count down the days to Christmas typically with a Nativity figure or object — or gift such as chocolate — occupying each date. Instead of receiving a gift, students donate an item each day.

This innovative project enables students to complete some required service hours for Confirmation at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic makes such opportunities rare.

“It was fun. We needed to get the stuff but [because of coronavirus], we had to be careful,” said Thomas Boyle, 15, a sophomore at Pequan­nock High School, who already has collected all the 24 items that he either purchased on shopping trips with the family or received from his grandmother who lives in town. Practicing social distancing, he picked up the items on her porch. “It’s been a great feeling to give to people in need. We are taught to love everyone and help as much as we can. This does that,” he said.

The students, in ninth and 10th grades, have been buying or collecting the items either all at once or periodically through Advent and placing them in a designated box, usually located in their kitchens or pantries. Parents sign off on their children’s logs for five hours of service. Meanwhile students also text photos of their filled-to-the rim boxes as proof to Laura Shamber, the parish’s youth ministry coordinator, who led the effort. Items include a can of low-sodium soup for Dec. 1, a jar of pasta sauce for Dec. 7, shampoo for Dec. 18 and a snack of their choice for Dec. 24.

After Christmas, students will drop off their donations to the Pequannock Township Food Pantry, located in Friendship Hall in the First Reformed Church of Pompton Plains. Sponsored by 17 organizations in and around Pequannock, the pantry provides more than 100 families with non-perishable food, paper goods, cleaning agents, personal care items and gift cards for fresh produce to local residents in need, according to their web page, http://firstreformedchurch.com/connect/food-pantry.

“It’s hard now for students to perform service projects safely because most of them have a social component,” said Shamber, noting that the parish has been conducting virtual classes to stay safe. “This is encouraging students to help people in need and in helping them to realize how blessed they are in their own lives,” she said.

Earlier, Shamber was thinking of Confir­mation service projects for the holiday season and stumbled upon the Reverse Advent Calendar idea from a Facebook page of another food pantry. Then she called up Pequannock Township Food Pantry, which had thought of launching a similar drive last year but never initiated it. Pantry staff even created the flyer of daily items that Shamber distributed to the students, according to Linda Wilson, pantry president.

“God is good. The food donations will help us get through the winter months when our supplies are low. The young people also are learning to give back,” Wilson said. “The donations mean so much to the people who come to the food pantry, many of whom are in need because it’s been difficult to work during the pandemic,” she said.

Thomas’ mother, Gina Boyle, told The Beacon that their box of donations sits in their kitchen. She said that along with the act of collecting the food, the family has engaged in discussions about why they are doing it and whom it is going to help.

“I love it. It feels good to help people at this time when they are in great need. We are thankful to God that we can afford to do this,” Gina Boyle said.

Another Confirmation student, Amanda Shore, 14, a freshman at Pequannock High School, completed the list already. She said she enjoyed walking around the food store with the list to find all the items.

“It was fun doing it,” said Shore, who also enjoyed picking out Pop Tarts and Frank­en­berry cereal for younger food pantry clients for her choice of snack for Dec. 24. “I have learned that I can help my community by helping people in need. That’s important,” she said.

Another parish in the Diocese that has been counting down to Christmas Day with charitable works is Our Lady of Consolation (OLC) Parish in Wayne. It has been encouraging parishioners to take up a challenge to perform 25 random acts of kindness — one act for each day of December until Christ­mas — and then hand in a list of those acts anonymously at the parish’s Christmas Masses, said Victoria Trentacost, OLC’s parish manager and head of fundraising, who devised the idea.

“The challenge helps people share their happiness with others — with their time, talent and treasure — especially now in this horrible year with COVID-19,” said Trentacost, who placed a blurb in OLC’s bulletin about the challenge with an empty calendar for December that parishioners can fill in with their good deeds, which do not have to cost money. She wrote, “You will find this so rewarding. Enjoy and be creative.”

Examples of good deeds include: pass out candy canes, check on a neighbor, bake cookies for a friend, donate toys to charity, make a craft and give it to an elderly person, send someone a card or text saying “Thinking of you,” pay for someone’s coffee, pick up litter and hold the door open for someone, Trentacost said.

“The challenge is a great idea. Parishioners have really taken to it,” said Father Michael Lombardo, OLC pastor, who has been performing good deeds such as writing cards and making calls to parishioners who have not returned to church yet and conducting a drive-by Holy Communion service at the parish. “This reminds us that Christmas — and performing good works — is every day. Especially during this holiday season, it is better to give than to receive,” he said.