St. Elizabeth students send
messages, gifts to NYC

Seventh grader Maureen Decker was among St. Elizabeth of Hungary School students who sent messages of sympathy to Catholic students in New York City.

Many Catholic schools in St. Louis "adopted" a school in New York in the wake of the World Trade Center disaster. Kids from the local schools sent messages, gifts and money to a specific school in New York City.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis provided names of New York schools that each St. Louis school could contact with gifts and messages.

The kids at St. Elizabeth school sent their package to kids at St. Joseph of the Holy Family School. The St. Elizabeth gifts included a check for $l,078.72, some teddy bears for kindergarten kids and dozens of messages.

Thirteen-year-old Maureen's message started by quoting two verses from the Bible's Book of Psalms. The Psalms 20:1-2 is known as the Prayer for the Kingdom in Time of War. It says: "I the Lord answer you in time of distress. The name of the God of Jacob defend you. May God send you help from the Temple, from Zion be your support."

Many of the letters included references from the Bible. But, they also included personal messages as well.

Tom Young

Twelve-year-old Tom Young wrote, "How could anyone in the world do something like that." The sixth grader added, "My sympathy goes out to you and I'm glad none of your parents were hurt."

Thirteen-year-old Melanie Finke wrote, "I hope this note will mean something to you." She had included a verse from the Psalms 4:8 that said, "In peace I shall lie down and sleep for you alone Lord make me secure."

Melanie Finke

Like most St. Louis students, the St. Elizabeth kids were in school on Sept. 11 at the time of the terrorist attack. Maureen said, "I was serving mass at the school so I didn't know what was going on."

Shortly after the attack, Principal Ken Weis came on the PA system and called the teachers and students to a school-wide prayer service. At the end of September, the school also held a combination prayer and patriotic rally in order to dedicate the New York gifts.

At that Prayer of Remembrance-Prayer for Peace rally, there was a candle-lighting ceremony. The assembly closed with everyone singing "God Bless America."

Nicki Hoffarth

Eighth grader Nicki Hoffarth said she only had heard a brief mention of the attack before the all-school prayer meeting. She said, "Then, when we came back to class, we watched on TV during science class."

The thirteen-year-old said, "It was devastating; it was scary."

For the most part, St. Elizabeth kids didn't have any family connections with people killed in the terrorist attack.

However, Nicki's step-father is a St. Louis fireman. She said three of his co-workers had had special training and were sent to New York to help in search-and-rescue efforts. "My step-dad was on a list to go later but he didn't get called," she said.

Eleven-year-old Gaby Lor's message was one that looked with hope to the future.

The fifth grader said, "But, you can't let what happened put a halt to your life. You just have to stand strong and stand up for what you believe in. I hope you will take my advice. I think my advice will help a lot."

Gaby Lor

Even weeks after the collapse of the two World Trade Center towers, the memory lingers with the St. Elizabeth kids.

Tom Young said, "Whenever I see a plane flying through the sky, it makes me feel different."

Melanie Finke said, "I still can't understand why those people (the terrorists) would kill themselves like that. It still bothers me."

Nicki Hoffarth said, "I try not to think about it as much but it still makes me scared."

Maureen Decker said the memories still make her a little scared. However, she said, "I'm going to keep moving on."

That theme of "moving on" was repeated in many of the messages the St. Elizabeth kids sent to New York.