By Kris Leonhardt

Editor

MARSHFIELD — Through their high school mission club, students at Columbus Catholic High School raised funds to support the Home Delivered Meals program. On Dec. 22 the students furthered their efforts by gathering at Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital to pack approximately 300 boxes of nonperishable meals that will sustain those serviced by the program during the winter months.

“The students from Columbus Catholic High School Mission Club were looking for a local project this year, and being that my husband is the student advisor for the Mission Club, he was talking at dinner one night about it, and I said, ‘You know, we don’t have money this year for our winter survival kits,’ and he said, ‘What exactly is that?’” said Lori Zimmerman, director of food and nutrition services for Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital.

She added, “When the students of Marshfield don’t have school because of cold or snow, ice, what have you, we cancel the Home Delivered Meals because most elderly cannot get out and shovel their sidewalks or their stairs, and a lot of our volunteer drivers are also older, retired individuals. So if it is too treacherous for the students to be out, it is really not good for our drivers to be out either.

“So they put together meals so that when we cancel school and cancel meal delivery, the folks in their homes have something to get them through until the next day.”

The Mission Club students’ fundraising efforts included collecting money at church masses, organizing a band breakfast, and the much larger undertaking of hosting the Diocese of La Crosse teacher in-service meal held this past fall.

“We are very grateful for the kids of Columbus having raised the money to buy the food, No. 1, and then this is their finals week, and they came this afternoon, after their finals, to help put all of the boxes together,” Zimmerman said.

Funds raised by the Columbus Catholic High School Mission Club also benefitted Casa Hogar Juan Pablo, an orphanage in Lurin, Peru.