Long-time Aquinas supporter Joan Secchia organized her own act of service in honor of Aquinas’ 125th anniversary and “125,000 Acts of Aquinas” program. Along with her husband, Peter, her mother-in-law and mother-in-law’s caregiver, Secchia decorated 200 paper bags for Kids’ Food Basket of Kent County, Michigan.

“I believe in that program and all these kids who live in poverty and go home with lunch as their last meal of the day, it’s sad so anything you can do to help is beneficial,” Secchia said. “So I went out and bought the bags, but it was their initial idea, and I just followed along.”

The Kids’ Food Basket delivers over 4,500 sack suppers daily to Kent County children who go hungry outside of school. As part of that program, Kids' Food Basket also accepts donated decorated bags, which they pass out once a week. For her Act of Aquinas, Secchia purchased 200 bags to help with this initiative, and decorated them with crayons and Halloween stickers.

“I thought it was a wonderful thing for Aquinas to do. It makes you aware of being kind to other people,” Secchia said. “I hope it’s successful and I encourage other people to take part.”

>More information on the 125,000 Acts of Aquinas