Shrine Catholic High School gives back in a big way

ROYAL OAK — Shrine Catholic High School’s four National Honor Society officers visited Brewer Academy in Detroit on Dec. 14 to give the students Christmas gifts this holiday season.

The officers gave each of 67 students at Brewer a book, pajamas, a toy and a bag of candy.

According to Patricia Jaeger, Shrine Catholic High School National Honor Society co-moderator, having an event like this changes the perspective of all who attend.

“They get to spread a little joy this Christmas season to students that are less fortunate than they are,” she said. “I think it’s an eye-opening experience for them, and they had a lot of fun.”

Jaeger said that the 67 students adopted from Brewer Academy, a kindergarten through eighth grade school, were selected based on income by the social worker at Brewer Academy, Marcia Gregory. Gregory could not be reached for comment over the holidays.

“Sometimes you don’t really realize how much of an impact this would have on young people until you experience it yourself,” Jaeger said.

Senior NHS student Grace Plunkey felt proud to help the Brewer Academy students during the holiday season.

“One of the main pillars (of the NHS) is about service, so it was really cool to be able to go down there and give all those kids gifts,” she said. “It was so fun to see the smiles on their faces.”

Plunkey is one of the four NHS officers who attended the event and mentioned that along with gift-giving, the girls spend some quality time with the Brewer students playing, singing and getting to know one another.

“They were super energetic, and we were singing and playing with them, so that was really fun,” she said.

Jaeger said that this experience is a great opportunity for the NHS students to have a new outlook on life.

“It’s not something that we typically experience in Royal Oak, some of these (Brewer Academy) students are not well off, and they are only 10 miles from where they (Shrine students) live,” she said.

Jaeger believes that having this experience brings a sense of awareness to the students and helps to encourage them to continue to help people in need.