This Christmas season, the St. Dominic community is reaching out to help those in need. Through the Adopt-A-Family program, 21 clubs, classes, and individuals are striving to give families in the St. Louis area a more joyful Christmas.

Mrs. Johnson, moderator of the Outreach Club, coordinated Adopt-A-Family at St. Dominic. She monitored the list of individuals from the organizations that needed adopting and ensured that everyone listed would receive something for Christmas this year.

Overall, St. Dominic has adopted a total of 36 people this Christmas season. In order to make the project a success, students in the participating groups donated various amounts of money and items that the families requested. Some clubs also used their own budgets to supply several gift cards for the families and individuals. With these gift cards, families will be able to purchase their own basic necessities, such as gas, food and clothing from local shopping centers.

However, not all donations came directly from inside of St. Dominic. Sophomore Brian Niehaus and a few of his friends created a haunted house for Halloween and opened it to the public. All of the proceeds from the event, which ended up being around $320, were donated to Outreach Club to help provide the gifts for St. Dominic’s adopted families. Also, Saints Joachim and Ann Care Service has promised to provide bicycles for any of the individuals that requested one as a Christmas gift.

In addition to those contributions, the peer ministers sponsored a food drive to help all of the families. With the “Canstruction” project in progress, various canned items are being collected so that a supply of food can be provided for each family in time for Christmas.

Throughout the week of December 15, all of these items will be personally distributed to St. Dominic’s adopted families.