Submitted photo
Retired superintendent of education Nancy DiGregorio visited St. Bernadette’s on Western Day to update students on the school’s progress. Back row: DiGregorio with members of student council, Hayley Nedelko, Emily Gibbel, Liam Morgan, Alec Jadon and Jonathan Giordano, along with principal Denise Fraser. Front row: student council staff advisor Justina Ciccarelli with Aimee Perreault, Felicia Spano, Natalie Meier, Kevin Vaughan and David Hawthorne.
Last summer Nancy DiGregorio found herself travelling halfway around the world on a mission of mercy.
Laden with school supplies, DiGregorio – a retired superintendent of education for the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board – delivered a cheque for $8,500 to an orphanage in Southwest Uganda to build a school.
The funds were raised by students and staff at St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School in a year-long social justice project to lift children in Africa out of poverty.
“Children your age there suffer a lot,” DiGregorio told St. Bernadette students at a recent assembly. “These children would love to go to school, but there isn’t a school for them to go to.”
School is a luxury few can afford, said DiGregorio. However, thanks to the generosity of students thousands of miles way, all the children in the orphanage will be able to attend classes. The school will have three classrooms, a dormitory and teacher’s residence.
“Through your efforts, you have given the greatest gift of all,” said DiGregorio. “And that is an education.”
