In honor of the holiday season, on Wednesday, Dec. 6, St. Luke’s held the annual Holiday Boutique in the Fireplace Commons in an effort to support nonprofits. From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., items handmade by faculty and students or created by people outside of the SLS community were displayed in a room full of tables. All profits made from the boutique were donated to local charities.
In addition to supporting a variety of nonprofit organizations, participants in the Holiday Boutique practiced sustainability, something that has become an important SLS value.
According to Joint Base San Antonio, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, Americans increase solid waste by an estimated 25%. Additionally, if every American family wrapped presents in reusable materials, it could save paper that could cover 45,000 football fields. So, multiple members of different St. Luke’s Clubs worked towards making a change and volunteered their time to contribute to the giving of the holiday season by helping those in need around our community. The sustainability efforts made by the SLS community greatly contributed to local organizations and small businesses.
There are several clubs that found ways to help organizations in a variety of ways, most relating to their club, and many students representing the clubs they are a part of. For example, Aviva Moss ’25, was one representative of the Sustainability Club at the fair where they sold seeds and flowers that were grown on campus this past fall. “We are now raising money for Save the Sound, which is a really cool local sustainable charity and we’re hoping that people get to plant them in their own gardens and have beautiful flowers.” Moss said. Save the Sound leads environmental action in certain regions. They work with nature towards saving endangered lands, fighting climate change and protecting the sounds and its rivers.
Another SLS club that participated in the fair is the Feminism Club which had a variety of items to sell such as gingerbread cookies, ornaments, hot cocoa jars and gift bags. “Feminism Club is a club welcome for all genders to discuss issues with gender equality, current events, we have speakers of women in different fields who are making strides to either improve feminism or just who are really good at their job,” Jacqueline Cecil ’24 said. “We hope that the proceeds go to improving the enrichment of girls in STEM.”
Upper School Latin Teacher, Magistra Leo Mahler, was raising money for the Triangle Community Center in Norwalk. “From social and support groups for kids to senior support. They’ve got case management, they’ve got free counseling and it’s just really really important for our community,” Mahler said. “So I want to support them in any way I can.” Mahler crocheted everything on the table which included mostly colorful scarves.
While the holiday season has now come to an end, efforts of sustainability are never amiss. Current issues of climate change, global warming and loss of biodiversity are very prevalent to the well being of our earth. By being educated on these topics, we can work towards creating a balance between human activity and sustaining our natural earth. The Holiday Boutique is one of the many ways that SLS informs its students and staff about giving back.
