School service project raises money to help feed the hungry

A first-grade teacher at St. Pius X School in Indianapolis, Jeanine Ritter, left, started an effort at the school to collect 1 million pop can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House in Indianapolis. The school reached its goal this spring. Ritter is shown with her niece, Katie Chamness, right, and Katie’s daughter, Gabby. (Photo by John Shaughnessy)

By John Shaughnessy

Reaching the million mark in anything is usually a great accomplishment. And when the community of St. Pius X School in Indianapolis recently reached its goal of collecting 1 million tabs from pop cans to help families of children fighting for their lives, it was time to celebrate.

Yet it was also a time for Jeanine Ritter—a first-grade teacher at St. Pius—to recall the situation that led her to start the collection at the school.

Ritter looked back to Jan. 20, 2005, when her niece, Katie Chamness, gave birth to her first child. Ellie was born with medical problems that led her to spend weeks in an intensive care unit at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

During that time, Katie and her husband, Jeff, stayed at the nearby Ronald McDonald House in Indianapolis, a house that offers comfort, support and a place to sleep for families whose children are struggling to survive.

“I watched Katie and Jeff go through so much with Ellie,” Ritter recalls. “They were so strong as they went through these life-and-death situations. We were also impressed with the Ronald McDonald House, and everything they did for Katie and Jeff and the other families.”

The heartbreaking part of the story is that Ellie died on April 7, 2006. She was 15 months old.

Despite their heartbreak, Ellie’s parents were so moved by the support they received from the Ronald McDonald House that they have continued to be involved with it, including serving a hot breakfast to residents on Ellie’s birthday each year. And Ritter started the collection of pop tabs at St. Pius in 2008 when she learned they could be recycled for money to donate to the house.

“It’s something everyone can do,” Ritter says. “The kids just really got behind it. That’s why it’s so fun teaching in a Catholic school.”

To mark the collection of 1 million pop tabs, Ronald McDonald and representatives from the Ronald McDonald House in Indianapolis came to St. Pius X School for a presentation on May 5. Among the people in the packed school gymnasium were Katie Chamness and her 2-year-old daughter, Gabby.

“I’m just really proud of Aunt Jeanine,” says Chamness, a member of St. Thomas More Parish in Mooresville. “It’s an honor to Jeff and me that she started this whole effort to remember Ellie.

“I see Ellie in Gabby every single day. I see her determination, a little bit of her personality and, most importantly, her strength.” †