THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: Schlarman Academy student Mia Wallen and pen pal Nancy O’Kane at the Holy Family food pantry on Thursday.
DANVILLE — It was a special meeting of pen pals on Thursday in Danville.
Since the start of the school year last year, Schlarman Academy second-grader Mia Wallen, 8, has been writing letters to Holy Family Catholic Church parishioner Nancy O’Kane and her husband, Mike.
All Schlarman students have parishioner pen pals from different churches they write to throughout the school year, monthly or at least each holiday.
The pen pal program initiated the class invite to the food pantry.
O’Kane and other parishioners run the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at Holy Family Church, 444 E. Main St., Danville, from 10 a.m. to noon every
Thursday. They distribute items, food and sometime hygiene products, by drive up and typically serve 60 to about 112 cars/families each week.
For Thursday’s food pantry distribution, O’Kane invited Mia and her class to the distribution. Another second grade class will be helping with the food pantry distribution on May 16.
It was an opportune time for Nancy and Mia to meet, in addition to the students having a learning experience.
Mia and Nancy said the exchanging of letters has been fun. The Schlarman students and community members get to make new connections and share about their lives.
Some of the topics between Mia and Nancy have been light, while others more serious.
Mia said she’s written about her pets, dog, Luna, and cat, Spirit. She’s also sent Nancy and Mike colored holiday pictures, and told them about what she enjoys doing during the seasons, such as stay inside and read a book in the winter and walk outside during the spring.
Nancy said she tells Mia about her family and children, what she does for fun, and also about her volunteer time at Holy Family. They’ve also talked
about homelessness, with Nancy also volunteering at The Dwelling Place in Danville.
“Some of her letters were so cool,” Nancy said, such as talking about topics that touched her heart like homelessness.
“I thought, we’re going to bring the kids here. We’ve never done this before,” Nancy said.
Not every student and parishioner pen pal get to meet. In addition to letters, some of the adult pen pals send stickers, candy and other items to the students.
It’s been a lot of fun meeting each other, Mia and Nancy said.
