La Rosa Family and Sarah O.

La Rosa Family and Sarah O.
Posted on 07/02/2020
Every week we celebrate individuals in the SMCDSB community who have been recognized for going above and beyond to help others during the COVID-19 pandemic. This week we are celebrating the La Rosa family and Sarah O.

The La Rosa family is part of the St. Peter the Apostle Catholic School community in Parry Sound.  They were nominated by a staff member who said:

"Lisa and Mark have played a pivotal role in helping support our Parryla rosa family Sound District through this pandemic. Lisa reached out to us right away and inquired about how she and Mark could help support our local community as well as support some of the more northern reserves in the District of Parry Sound. Lisa had personally picked up and delivered food to the Britt food bank, as well as helping support Shawanaga, Magnetawan and Henvey Inlet.

Lisa and Mark had this incredible idea about starting a Facebook group called “Parry Sound’s Helping Hands” where they have informally supported numerous individuals and families in our community. This has certainly helped relieve some of the immediate pressure that our local food banks were feeling. Most importantly, it has helped bring our entire community together during this pandemic and demonstrated how powerful our community can be when we work together. The most amazing thing is that they are still both working full time and are taking these incredible inspirational actions in their downtime. They are truly local heroes in my eyes.”

Sarah O. is a student from St. Marie of the Incarnation Catholic School in Bradford. She was nominated by a staff member who said:

sarah oSarah is a grade 8 student at St. Marie of the Incarnation School in Bradford. Over the years she has exhibited many of her leadership skills around the school. However, this year I have watched her step up and show just how much of a leader she is within the classroom and the community. Prior to Distance Learning, Sarah was a pivotal member of the Social Justice Club, heading up many of the school wide initiatives, the most recent one creating milk bag mats for those in need. With the closure of the school, this meant the project was put on hold when it was going to be needed most. That didn't stop Sarah, between finishing her distance learning and spending time with her family she is continuing on with the creation of the mats to hand out in the near future. It was important for Sarah to see the completion of these mats to the end, to date she has helped with 6 completed mats that are being housed in the chapel and the school and she has completed 5 on her own. She truly is a remarkable student inside and out.”

We would like to thank the La Rosa family and Sarah O. for their incredible effort in helping others during this time.