Love, hope and self-worth all in one bundle.

Students at Our Lady of Assumption School in
Calgary are gifting blessing bags this Easter to homeless men and women staying
at the Mustard Seed emergency shelter.

Erin MacLachlan, the school’s principal, who
oversees students from kindergarten to Grade 9, praised her students for putting
their faith into action.

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“Every year we survey our students on a
variety of topics (related) to their education,” said MacLachlan. “When it
comes to faith formation, they were asked ‘how do you feel most connected to
God or to (your) faith?’ Overwhelmingly, students said they feel closest to God
when they’re actively serving others.”

Kindergarten kids and pupils in Grades 1, 2
and 8 are filling bags with warm socks, gloves and toques. Grades 3, 4 and 9
classes are offering toothbrushes, travel-size toothpaste, lip balm and lotion.
The Grade 5 and 6 students will supply travel-size deodorant, wet wipes and
pocket tissues. And Grade 7 boys and girls are contributing soft granola bars,
fruit snacks and water bottles.

Grade 7 student Payton (last name concealed
due to Calgary Catholic School District privacy policies) has visited The
Mustard Seed before and came away impressed with the services for Calgarians
experiencing misfortune.  

“They always provide meals and housing for
people who can’t afford it,” said Payton. “I know they have an upper room for
families with children, and that is a great help.”

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MacLachlan said The Mustard Seed is an
ideal cause to champion because of the Christian non-profit’s “main focus being
maintaining the dignity of every person, regardless of their background, and
truly acting as Jesus would.”

The Register has engaged with The Mustard
Seed multiple times in recent years about the efforts of its staff and
volunteers to serve the vulnerable. Along with offering food and shelter, the
organization’s wellness centre delivers medical care, mental health support,
occupational therapy, tax clinics, ID services and more. The chaplains on the
spiritual care team lead Bible studies and Alpha courses, offer prayers and
one-on-one counselling. This suite of services is rounded out with an
employment support program for both guests and local partnering businesses and
non-profits.

Alongside Calgary, The Mustard Seed is
established in Edmonton, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Kamloops and Saskatoon. According
to theseed.ca, in 2025 the organization served more than 980,000 meals, offered 765
shelter spaces daily and supported 1,466 clients into stable housing.

The 320 Our Lady of Assumption students had
until March 30 to submit their designated goods for the blessing bags. Then the
junior high kids on the student leadership team worked with the younger
students to bag their items and the kind notes they wrote for The Mustard Seed
guests.

April 2, Holy Thursday, was delivery day.

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MacLachlan shared how the blessing bag initiative
instilled an important Lenten value within the students.

“Our
students are learning a lot about almsgiving,” said MacLachlan. “They’re (seeing
that) we’ve got to turn our focus from inward to outwards and that true service
requires intentionality. At this point in time, as we head into the Easter
break, students are understanding that they’re offering the Easter promise of a
new beginning to those people in the community who are most in need.”

(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)

A version of this story appeared in the April 05, 2026, issue of The Catholic Register with the headline “Calgary students put faith in action for Easter”.