MEDIA RELEASE
| For Immediate Release April 13, 2010 |
For more information, call: Paula Watkins or Fred Whittaker, 502/459-3088 |
(Louisville, KY) During the 2009-2010 school year, St. Francis of Assisi School (1938 Alfresco Place) students in grades 6-8 have participated in an initiative called Peace Families. In partnership with Catholic Charities, students have been interacting with refugees from a number of countries. Students have listened to the refugees’ stories of escape and liberation from places where people routinely experience terror and violence, and they have learned and been changed by the refugees’ messages of hope, faith, courage and resiliency.
On Thursday, April 15, at 1:30 p.m. the students will hold a closing ceremony with the refugees who have visited them throughout the year. Each visitor is bringing food from his or her country of origin for an international feast. Students and refugees will celebrate their friendships while they reflect, remember and eat wonderful food. This event will be held in the St. Francis Parish Hall, 1960 Bardstown Road.
The Peace Families program encourages students to learn to listen to themselves, others and God so that they may more clearly understand the call to be peacemakers. Through the stories of individuals who have been challenged by adversity or who have had the courage to reach out to those who are suffering, students are challenged to explore both global and local communities. Compassionate listening, service work and meditation (done during yoga) allows students to develop the awareness that will help them become morally cognizant people who are aware of the immense power that their words and actions have upon their relationships with God, themselves and with all other people they may meet.
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