Friday Forecast December 11th

ANNOUNCEMENTS • UPCOMING EVENTS • NOTEWORTHY ITEMS OF INTEREST 

The Holy Father wrote an Apostolic letter Patris corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), hailing especially those people who live ordinary lives in the midst of trial and tribulation, such as the pandemic has caused. Saint Joseph was a man who went largely “unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence” who yet had “an incomparable role in the history of salvation.”  The readings during Advent feature Joseph in the Gospels.  It is good to meditate on his silence, his confusion when he learned of Mary’s pregnancy, his readiness to respond to God, despite this confusion.  Pick up the Gospel of Luke to learn more about St. Joseph.

Calendar Item – Noon Dismissal 12/18

December 18th, the Friday before break is a noon dismissal.

New iPads for Middle School

As our oldest iPads (5+ years) are out of date and without ability to upgrade, meaning that some of our students in the middle school cannot use all the features we would like for them to have, such as online textbooks. We are investing in a new class set of iPads. The new iPads will go to our 8th graders, and the 8th grade iPads (only 18 months old and in great shape) will push down to the 6th grade. Many of you look for ways to contribute concretely for educational purposes. Each iPad from order, to delivery to prep for student use runs about $425. If you would like to contribute to our ongoing tech needs, this is a great way to do so. Additionally, we will purchase another round of SmartBoard Flatscreens. We’ve been trying to replace the old SmartBoards (11+ years old) with the new model. The replacements are scheduled to go into the 8th grade classrooms, the science lab, and one other 7th grade classroom and very hopefully to the two second grade classrooms.  After this purchase we will have the new model in all homerooms 2nd – 8th grade, and one new one in a Kindergarten class.  Each of these from purchase, delivery, labor to classroom ready runs $6,400 (as of the quote last year). If you would like to contribute to the tech fund this December, you can see how the money would be used this school year.

Free COVID PCR Testing sites from CDPHE

CDPHE has easy registration and free testing for PCR test at these sites https://www.tchd.org/827/Free-COVID-19-Testing-Sites

If you travel or partake of gatherings, you may wish to have your family tested prior to returning to school.  The experience of people who have gone to these sites (WaterWorld and Centennial Center Park were specifically mentioned) has been positive with easy registration and short or no lines for testing, and reasonable response times.

Home and School

COOKING WITH THE SAINTS: Join us for a fun night of cooking and community with the McCready family, a school and parish family, who also happens to have a real-life chef for a Dad! DECEMBER 16th, 5:45pm.  RSVP at  https://saintvincents.org/cooking-with-the-saints

VINEYARD VINES: Holiday Shopping Event! Sunday, 12/13-Tuesday 12/15
Finish up your Christmas shopping either in the store or online and 20% of sales will go back to SVdP! If you shop online or online for curbside pickup, fill your shopping cart and then you MUST call the store in order for a clerk to complete the sale giving credit to SVdP. Or feel free to shop in person. Store hours are Sunday 11-6, and Monday and Tuesday 10-8. Happy shopping!!

THE BOOKIES: Shop with us at The Bookies from November 30th- December 12th! The code for The Bookies to use in store or online is “SVDP.” 15% will go back to school for in store purchases, and only 5% online) so take a trip to the store once remote learning wraps up for the day!). A limited amount of people are allowed in the store at a time so if you’d like to ensure you don’t have to wait in line, go to their website and make a reservation for next week or the following!

MINTED: Still in need of Christmas cards? Shop with Minted, save 20% and they will donate 15% back to our school. Use code FUNDRAISEVINCENTDEPAUL when you check out.

Home & School December Newsletter, click here to read.

Gala In the Garden 2.0 and Golf on the Greens

Gala in the Garden 2.0

Looking to make a donation before year end? Consider a Gala sponsorship! This year, we have expanded options at all levels (click here to view a video on many of the changes and FAQs). To become a sponsor, complete this form. For additional questions, please contact Melissa Regan at Melissa.a.regan@gmail.com or 410.336.7097. Thank you to the families and businesses that have already committed as sponsors for The Garden to the Greens! We are pleased to announce that we are over halfway to our sponsorship goal!

Volunteer Meeting- Our next volunteer meeting is Friday, December 18th at 8:30am and will be held over zoom. Please check your email for an invite from Melissa. If you are interested in joining our Gala team, it’s never too late! Contact Melissa Regan at Melissa.a.regan@gmail.com  or 410.336.7097 to join.

Coming Soon: Online re-enrollment

We’ve been forced to catch up with the rest of the high tech world and will be moving to an online platform for re-enrollment.  HOWEVER, in advance, we beg your patience.  Because this is the first year of an online enrollment platform, a LOT of information will need to be input on the family side.  You will see this in January, after Christmas break.  The online FACTS platform will gather all of the same information that you needed to submit each year at re-registration, and it will likely treat you as a “new family” with regard to the amount of information that you would need to input.  It will make your life better going forward, but it will be an effort this year!

Good Quality Programs available to watch now available on FORMED

If you are looking for good Catholic content to watch, we now have a subscription to FORMED.org.  Click here for how to access this amazing collection of Bible Studies, movies, documentaries, Catholic teaching and programming for kids.