1. Student Presentation
Living in a world of poverty can be painful. A major problem in our
community is that people cannot afford furnishings even if they get help for
rent or a place to stay. This means they are sleeping on floors instead of
beds or eating without tables. Because of this injustice, our school focused
on the Corporal Work of Mercy to Shelter the Homeless with a project we
called Table of Plenty.
To learn about this concern in Knox County, we teamed up with local
service organizations, especially Hope Now and the St. Vincent de Paul
Society. First, our teachers helped us experience the problem by living
through a whole day at school without any furniture. We were very
uncomfortable and felt unhygienic. After spending one day without tables
and chairs, we realized how hard it can be to perform daily tasks with no
furniture. Mr. Wayne Dunlap, a representative from the Hope Now furniture
bank, came to speak to us about the efforts of his organization, run solely
by volunteers, and their needs. Although the greatest need was bedding,
we decided to focus on building tables with different accoutrements as it
is a place for families to gather.
As the Eighth Graders, we became the leaders of this school wide project.
We designed a Power point presentation to inform the teachers first at a
meeting where they also had to congregate without furniture. Then we
conducted a survey asking what each class could provide to “shelter the
homeless” with a part of table setting to offer a welcome area for families to
eat and share. We then presented the Power point to students and each
class created a part of the table accessories. To bring awareness to the
issue, we created a tri-fold board explaining the Table of Plenty project and
displayed it with Hope Now literature for the parish and at our school wide
Knowledge Night for parents. In addition we presented our work to the St.
Vincent de Paul Society in efforts to continue this service in the future.
Also, because many of the skilled carpenters who helped are in the St.
Vincent de Paul Society and Knights of Columbus, we wanted to show our
appreciation for their efforts and hope to build a community of organizations
that support each other in care for those in need. We want the focus to be

2. helping others living uncomfortably in the community by helping the Hope
Now Organization aid the working poor, people who are trying to break the
cycle of poverty.
We know this focus has made a great impact. We received news from
Hope Now that our 6 tables we built were put into good homes in less than
one month! The leaders of Hope Now applauded our efforts to design a
table setting with such additional features that create a warm, welcome,
family atmosphere like placemats, prayer cards, books, centerpieces, etc.
Parents have asked how they can donate to Hope Now. The project was
highlighted in our local newspaper and the Diocesan paper. More exciting,
we received questions from two other parishes about how to get a project
like this started, so we feel we have impacted not just our community, but
the hands of many who can create such change in their own communities.
The impact of the project has already led to a Lenten service of a clothing
and blanket drive to fill some of the Hope Now and other community
Corporal needs of shelter and clothing. The Table of Plenty service project
itself will continue next year probably during Advent again. However, it will
begin with the St. Vincent de Paul Society holding a summer garage sale to
raise funds for some of the materials. Parishioners from Knights of
Columbus and Habitat for Humanity have expressed a continued interest to
be guiding hands in the actual building and the school classes have
thought up new ideas to add to the table settings. Our best advice is to
really place students into the situation of the working poor in our school
“family” setting, so they can be aware of need and truly feel the positive
change that a project like this can accomplish.
Many skills were acquired during the Table of Plenty project. We mostly
gained awareness about the situation of those in need in our community
and the reality some people face in hard times. We learned about the
needs of Hope Now, a valuable service to our community that most of us
had never heard about even though it has been around for 15 years! We
gained leadership skills in leading teachers and students through the
process that we hope to take with us to high school. We used tools we had
never used before for carpentry skills that we needed to correctly build of a

3. stable table. However, above all, we have learned that giving to others
sometimes helps change the hearts of the helper as much as those helped.
We are the hands and feet of Christ and it’s time to put them to work.
Teacher remarks
As the advisor, I have seen students use their specific talents to better our
community, a goal we teachers at St. Vincent de Paul hope all students
reach. From early on, we instill the fact that we are many parts in the
global body. By using our own skills and talents, we can add to the
productivity of any project. All 21 8th
graders developed in some way.
Some became better builders, some detailed computer technicians, some
planners, some creative designers, some writers, and as you see here
others skilled at presentation. Besides the skills and knowledge developed
was the awareness manifested in this project. Imagine how satisfying it
was when I had a student ask me what else we could do to help. These
are the leaders of justice we hope to nurture; these are the future citizens
of an even better world we all hope to see.