Students raid classrooms for good cause

The kindergartner marauders collected donated items for a local non-profit

“Go pirates! Take everything! Take it all,” cried Captain Jack Dollar as a band of kindergarten pirates stormed into a Saint Mary’s Catholic School classroom to plunder donated items for the Ruth and Naomi Project.

It is a yearly event which allows the school to help out a local non-profit organization while at the same time lets the kindergarten class dress up like pirates.

The kids were led by Captain Jack Dollar (also known as Robert Smyth) who led the motley crew from classroom to classroom where they would enter with a shout and grab as many donated items they could. The students in the raided classrooms were prepared for the looters and had their donated items sitting on their desk ready to be taken.

Saint Mary’s student’s brought coffee, shampoo, bars of soap, baby wipes, diapers and more to be taken by the pirates, who then turned around and gave it to the Ruth and Naomi Project. Devon Smyth, executive director of organization, said all of the stuff donated by the students really makes a difference.

“Its stuff we don’t have to go out and buy now,” she said.

She added the diaper and baby wipe donations certainly help since the all-women’s shelter opening up on North Broad Street will be housing women with children. It will be nice to meet that need and to connect the community to what the shelter is up to, Smyth said.

“You’re the homeless shelter girl,” one of the pirates said to Smyth when she entered the classroom.

“You’re right, I am the homeless shelter girl,” she said.

/ John Popham Pirate kindergartners plunder a pre-k classroom Friday morning at Saint Mary’s Catholic School. The marauders were snatching up items such as diapers, wipes and toiletries to give to the Ruth and Naomi Project.

Fraunchez Daniel walks away with an armload of pirate booty following a raid from a classroom at Saint Mary’s Catholic School Friday morning.