‘Hope in a box’: Former IND students distribute Thanksgiving meals to those in need

The last few months haven’t been easy for Qiara Jackson.

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic struck in March, the four-year resident of the Latrobe housing community in East Baltimore has had to give up her day job as a school bus driver to homeschool her 7-year-old and 10-year-old sons.

Jackson misses busing her other “babies” to school each morning, she said, and has had to deal with all the added pressures that come with pandemic life.

Walking back to her home from the now-closed Institute of Notre Dame Nov. 17, Jackson carted a decorated box filled with food for a Thanksgiving feast – frozen turkey with all the trimmings, plus other groceries including pasta and dairy items.

The food box was a gift from the IND Alumnae Association, which had arranged for alumnae and former students of the all-girls school who are now enrolled at The John Carroll School in Bel Air to distribute the gifts at IND to dozens of families from the Latrobe housing community. The median family income at Latrobe Homes, an affordable-housing apartment complex, is less than $15,000.

“To me, this box means help,” Jackson said. “This is love and hope in a box. I’m very grateful.”

Jackson said the gift will help her family “start our holidays and make sure our kids have a decent meal.”

Maureen Ciesielski, a 1972 graduate of IND who serves as alumnae relations coordinator, said distributing Thanksgiving meals was a longtime tradition at IND before it closed at the end of the last academic year. Spearheaded by the late School Sister of Notre Dame Hilda “Hildie” Sutherland, who began the annual tradition decades ago, the outreach made a difference to countless families in need. Ciesielski said it was important to the alumnae that even though the school closed, that outreach wouldn’t end.

Ciesielski remembered that when School Sister of Notre Dame Charmaine Krohe, provincial leader of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, announced the closing of the school in May, she noted that every ministry changes and can grow into something else.

“That was all we needed as an alumnae association for us to look for ways to take our legacy at the high school and continue it on to minister to the people of Baltimore,” Ciesielski said.

Ciesielski said her association had a goal of raising enough money and donations to give out 50 food boxes this Thanksgiving. That goal was met and surmounted within 48 hours after it was announced on social media, she said. More than $4,000 in supplies and cash were donated to fill 80 boxes.

Mary Helfrich, a 1980 graduate of IND and chairwoman of the mission committee of the alumnae association, said her group became an official nonprofit organization over the summer.

“My role is to continue the community service started and nurtured by Sister Hildie,” Helfrich said.

Helfrich noted that her group organized a school supply drive for Mother Seton Academy in Baltimore, Sisters Academy of Baltimore and Our Lady of Hope-St. Luke School in Dundalk, raising about $4,000 in supplies and cash that was split evenly between the schools.

The group additionally organized a fundraiser that collected $8,000 from alumnae to help support the 214 former IND students who transferred to other schools this academic year. Former students who needed assistance received grants to help with new school uniforms and other supplies.

The alumnae association is also continuing outreach to the School Sisters of Notre Dame motherhouse in Baltimore, sending birthday cards to retired sisters and arranging special events there. Throughout its 173 years, IND was sponsored by the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

Helfrich said the alumnae association is made up of more than 8,000 women. The oldest living alumna is 101, from the class of 1937.

Ciesielski hopes the alumnae association can eventually give out scholarships to help girls attend Catholic schools. She expects the kind of outreach that was ingrained in every IND student to last far into the future.

“If we do our job well,” she said, “beyond when the last alumna dies, it is still going to be sustainable as a nonprofit that cares for the marginalized and gives care and opportunity through education, scholarships and mentorship.”

Kevin J. Parks contributed to this story.

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

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