Our Lady's Academy

Accredited by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges

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WALTHAM 'I think little girls really like rainbows and colors,' she said, smiling. Attardo and her peers at Our Lady - about 260 students in kindergarten through grade 8 - spent Friday afternoon crafting cards to comfort victims of the Haiti quake.

`I want them to know I hope everything is OK, and I just really hope they feel better and all their houses are replaced,' said Attardo. Students are also holding a drive for quarters during the season of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday on Feb. 17 and continues through April 1, said Darci Hamann, a third grade teacher at Our Lady. All of the money raised and goods collected will be sent to a reputable organization, which has yet to be determined, on April 1, Hamann said.

`We have a lot of Haitian students here in our school, and many of them have family members who are affected,'' she said, noting the school has been praying for quake victims.

Older students - starting in third grade - know the devastation, she said. `Some of them take it very hard. ... It makes them realize how lucky we are. These kids are really good at giving what they have, they're good kids,' Hamann said.

On Thursday, students raised more than $400 in a program where they brought in a minimum of $1 for Haiti relief in exchange for wearing something other than a Catholic school uniform, said Student Council Vice President Rachel Millerick and President Megan Rogers, both eighth-graders. Nearly every student participated, and one boy brought in $100 of his own money, Millerick said. `That was really amazing,' she said.

"Each grade is also collecting a particular item, such as deodorant and other toiletries, Rogers said.

`We're just thinking of things we can do to help, because we know the harsh times (people in Haiti) are going through. We want them to know people care,' Millerick said. Rogers said she hopes the cards will brighten their day, knowing that people see what they're enduring.

Third-grader Gina Herosian, 9, drew many hearts within a big heart to make someone in Haiti `better and happier,' she said.

Her `big sister,' sixth-grader Sonia Ferre, 11, called the quake and its aftermath `terrifying.' `I hope the people who get (the cards) know we're thinking of them, and they should hold on, and we’re going to help them,' she said. Ferre said she wants an adult to receive her card, so that `they know everything's going to be OK.'

Sophia LeBlanc, 9, a third-grader, drew a rainbow `for hope and because it's my favorite to draw,' she said. She wants Haitians to know people here care about them, she said. `I don't really care who gets my card, just as long as someone gets it in Haiti,' LeBlanc said.

Joyce Kelly can be reached at 781-398-8005 or jkelly@cnc.com.