ELLSWORTH – The ninth- and tenth-grade Religious Education students from St. Francis Catholic Church took a bus to Red Wing Wednesday, Dec. 1 to buy gifts for a family they adopted through the Ellsworth Gift Box Program.

They all used their own money to pool together (each student brought $20 or more) and they worked as a team to figure out how to purchase as much as they could to make the family's Christmas special.

We talked in class the week before about generosity and helping others.

It really impacted the students when we talked about the fact that the family asked for basic necessities like bed sheets, a belt, and socks rather than frivolous things. We talked about how many families are in our community that can't afford to provide for their family.

Submitted by Lisa Olson and Becky Beissel