Lent a hand
The Beauty, Bath and Beyond Charity Drive collects 68 boxes of toiletries for Dale Junior High School.
They call us their Santa Margarita angels.
“I’ve never seen such poor students so joyful,” said Nancy Hormuth, director of Campus Ministry. “It’s a joy that is so genuine and authentic that it causes one to be so grateful for all the blessings in our lives.
When students at Dale Junior High School in Anaheim received the boxes of toiletries from their Santa Margarita angels, they asked if they could take extras.
This was not an inquiry of greed — in fact, it was quite the opposite. Since they had been focusing on the idea of “paying it forward”, the students wanted to pass out the extras to the homeless in their neighborhoods.
As a Title I school, Dale is funded by the state of California. During this Lenten season, SMCHS dedicated the week of Feb. 23-27 to the Beauty, Bath and Beyond Charity Drive, aiming to collect boxes of toiletries for the needy students at Dale. Organized by Nancy and her daughter, Lisa Hormuth, director of ASB and science teacher at Dale, the week-long drive resulted in a total of 68 boxes collected for its first year.
“My daughter came to me a few months ago and said that Dale Junior High is in desperate need of hygiene products,” Nancy said. “And this is not only for the students, but also for their families who live in motels, shelters, their cars, just about wherever they can pretty much hang their hats.”
In response to this call for help, Nancy, along with peer ministry, reached out to the Eagles. Word was spread that freshmen would be in charge of bringing in toothbrushes and toothpaste, sophomores shampoo and conditioner, juniors bar soap and body wash and seniors deodorant.
“This is a Lenten Drive, which I think goes perfect with our theme ‘Make Our Hearts Like Yours, O Lord’,” Nancy said. “What a better way to change our hearts than by giving through charitable acts of love.”
The relationship between SMCHS and Dale began eight years ago with the Adopt-A-Family Christmas Charity Drive. Lisa collects the names of the neediest families at the school and passed them on to her mother. Nancy then reaches out to the SMCHS student body to ask if anyone or any class would be interested in “adopting” a family by putting together some Christmas presents for each member.
“We’ve adopted Dale,” Nancy said. “We’re such a blessed school with everything provided for us — the education and so many things and opportunities that these students will never have. Many of them wear the same shirt all week, so they’ll be stained or covered with dirt. And because it’s expensive to go to the laundry mat and put $2 in the machine to wash clothes, they often have to wear the same clothes for days.”
The donations for this Lenten charity drive were delivered on Feb. 27 and went towards “Live Above the Means”, a supply store on the Dale school grounds that is currently very low in products. Students can go to the store to ask for basic necessities, such as toiletries, and bring them home to their families. Extraordinary behavior or acts of kindness can also earn students special tickets that allow them to receive more than what is normally allotted to a family.
“Even though they’re poverty stricken, students won’t come forward and say they have needs because they have pride,” Nancy said. “The ones who do come forward will give their names in private. The students are embarrassed about being poor. They’re at the mercy of others to provide for them.”
With the success of the first year of the Beauty, Bath and Beyond Charity Drive, Nancy is looking forward to even more involvement with Dale. An idea on her mind is a backpack drive in the beginning of the year that will fill backpacks with needed school supplies.
“Dale and Santa Margarita are definitely partners in grace,” Nancy said. “We’re hoping to, whenever [Dale is] so desperate in need, to step forward, take them under our wings and help care for them. We’re a little bit of hope for them. This truly is Caritas Christi in action, the love of God in action. And as we care for them, we give them hope and we get back the joy of knowing our hearts are being changed like yours, O Lord.”
