Best day of the year

The line-up of Thanksgiving Baskets

The Monday before Thanksgiving has always been a special day at Trinity High School.  It is on this day each year that our school community donates hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Thanksgiving baskets to the good people of Blessed Sacrament Parish and the Parish of the Transfiguration, both in Manchester.  A few weeks back, we distributed laundry baskets to the entire school community and asked them to bring them back today filled with items for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Bishop Libasci blessing the baskets

Our goal this year was 500 baskets - 120 for Transfiguration and the rest for Blessed Sacrament.  Transfiguration requests a set amount each year and we like to give about 350 to Blessed Sacrament.  Unfortunately, we didn't meet our goal but our students and the students of St. Joseph Regional Junior High School did bring in over 400.  The baskets were dropped off in the morning and lined our front lawn throughout the day.  At 9:30am, we all went outside and Mr. Mailloux '72 offered a few words of thanks and said that moments like this are reminders of our Catholic mission.  He then introduced Bishop Libasci who was kind enough to join us.  He too extended his thanks and then blessed the baskets and all those present.  His blessing was a variation of the traditional Prayer before Meals but changed it a bit at the end saying, "...from the bounty of the Pioneers..."

At Blessed Sacrament Parish 

After school, tons of teachers, students, parents, former parents, and one alum helped load the baskets into cars, minivans, and trucks and we brought the baskets to the two parishes.  I joined in on the caravan to Blessed Sacrament where we were greeted by the pastor, Fr. John Bucchino, OFM and many volunteers.  After we brought all the baskets in, we took a group picture and Fr. John offered his thanks and a blessing to everyone.  Fr. John said how impressed he was with the energy everyone had bringing in the baskets but said what matters the most is the energy of their work to feed the hungry.

The Thanksgiving traditions continue tomorrow and Wednesday as a number of students will help out at the New Horizons Thanksgiving Breakfast tomorrow morning with we will celebrate our annual Thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday.  This is truly the best week of the year!