GREENVILLE - Kindergarten teacher Diane Ahern and her assistant, Patricia Campbell, volunteered to coordinate a fundraising raffle.
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During a PTO-sponsored family trip to New York City on December 1, participants collected enough money on the buses to purchase American Girl dolls as Christmas gifts for Sydney and Ava, as well as an additional doll to add to the raffle prizes. One school employee, having purchased a $400 Wii Entertainment System for her family for Christmas, chose instead to donate the item to the kindergarten raffle.
After consultation with the St. Philip parish pastor, Rev. Msgr. Robert Evans, the school administration and PTO announced that the funds raised from the school’s annual Breakfast with Santa would be used to begin a Khoury Family Trust Fund. The breakfast was well attended despite taking place during a major snowstorm, and participants made it known that they had braved the weather because they wanted to “be there for Sydney.”
An attorney e-mailed the school with an offer to provide, at no charge, any legal assistance the family might need for medical or insurance issues. Faculty and staff organized an evening of activities at the school for children whose parents wanted to go Christmas shopping or enjoy an evening out,? and the funds raised were set aside for the Khoury family.
Some of the teachers held classroom mini-raffles, with the proceeds going to the fund. Gas cards, grocery gift certificates, and other items for the family’s needs were donated. Teachers and staff visited the family and offered assistance regularly, both in the hospital and at their home. Ahern also brought Sydney’s classmates to the office on a regular basis to talk to her by telephone.
Rising above their own heartache, the Khoury family also chose to give a gift to others. Knowing that Sydney’s treatments would cause the loss of her hair, they decided to have it cut short and donated Sydney’s beautiful mane to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that makes hairpieces for financially disadvantaged children who suffer from any kind of hair loss.
“This started out as a request for prayers and took on a life of its own,” Walsh marvels. “Monetary donations, raffle prize donations, and offers of assistance have just poured into the school. People who heard about Sydney literally knocked on our doors to offer their prayers, support, and good wishes. Other Catholic schools sent donations and have continued to pray regularly for Sydney. We have been told over and over that her name has been added to this prayer line or that one. This is truly a situation in which we are constantly reminded of God’s grace, of His goodness, and of the joy and support that comes with being part of a true community of believers.”
And what of the novena? How did it all come together, and what saint was chosen to intercede on Sydney’s behalf?
“We believe it happened exactly the way God intended it to happen,”?? Walsh smiles. “St. Philip Church has a Perpetual Adoration chapel, and a very active rosary group that prays at the chapel on a regular basis. At the time the rosary group was asked to pray for Sydney, one of the women was hosting a pilgrim image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She offered to share the picture with Sydney’s family for the duration of time that it was to have been enshrined in her own home.”
So it was that a school staff member took the blessed image with her on a visit to Sydney’s family. Prior to the visit, Sydney’s parents were concerned about their daughter’s significant weight loss, her lack of appetite, and her listlessness.
That changed, Walsh says. “When the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe was placed on the table in Sydney’s room, she suddenly perked up, sat up in bed and said she was hungry. Her parents were overjoyed when she ate three bowls of macaroni!”
In early December a family bus trip to New York City brought a group of St. Philip students to St. Patrick’s Cathedral to attend Mass. “In addition to being personally welcomed by the celebrant, our group was given literature and materials from the church as part of its welcome package,”?Walsh explained. “Included with these materials was a novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe. We began to feel strongly that we were being led to Our Lady of Guadalupe as an intercessor for Sydney. Coincidentally, her feast day was December 12, so we knew that we had exactly two days to prepare and begin a novena if we wanted it to end precisely on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!”
Next week: Find out how the novena finally came together and the surprise that awaited those who attended Sydney’s special Mass
