Aquinas Academy students raise $3,500 on behalf of Ukrainian orphans

Thanks to a couple of groups of empathetic youngsters, more than $3,500 is going to a relief fund for Ukrainian orphans.

Students at Aquinas Academy of Pittsburgh in Hampton raised the money through two efforts, with third- and fifth-graders bringing in some $1,000 through a bake sale.

The remainder came as a result of an event organized by eighth-graders Lucas Conley and Isabelle Engleka.

“When Russia invaded Ukraine, I started hearing stories about what was happening,” Lucas, who lives in Hampton, said. “And I knew that I wanted to do something, but I wasn’t really sure what, exactly.”

Around the time he was pondering, students at Penn State held their annual THON Weekend, which involves 46 hours’ worth of dancing for a cause. That gave Lucas an idea.

“I thought, if you stood, you’d be suffering. And those people in Ukraine, some aren’t able to sleep at night. Some are on the road all day,” he said. “So I thought we could do a standing-up challenge, making it even a bit harder and having to stand in place the entire time.”

The resulting Stand for Ukraine event took place in the school’s gymnasium on the evening of March 18, a Friday, when Isabelle, Lucas and about 40 other students in middle- and high-school grades remained upright within the confines of two-by-two-foot spaces.

As they stood, a video projected on a screen told the story of Father Jason Charron, a Ukrainian Catholic Church priest from Carnegie who went on a rescue mission on behalf of orphans in the invaded nation. His fund is the beneficiary of the Aquinas Academy students’ largesse.

“Lucas was suggesting the idea, and I thought, how can I help?” Isabelle, a Butler County resident, said.

She did so by taking initiatives in organizing the newly created event, such as posting signup sheets and making sure participants had plenty of pledge forms for donors.

“Then it sort of just came together at the end,” she said. “It feels great.”

Regarding the bake sale, third-grader Victoria Bogdewic got the dough ball rolling by writing a letter to head of school Leslie Mitros, requesting permission to raise money to help the innocent children of Ukraine.

Stand for Ukraine launched a busy weekend for Aquinas Academy, as the school hosted its sixth annual chess invitational following a pandemic-related hiatus. Participating were 96 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, competing from 16 Catholic schools, plus two home-schooled students.

“The one two years ago, we were sent home about a week before it happened,” Michael Burchill, assistant head of school, said. “This year, we had a great response.”