STA Cheer Teams Host Rally for Catholic Charities

This November, over 300 cheerleaders from eleven local Dallas Catholic schools participated in the 5th annual “Spreading Good Cheer” event to drive pantry donations for Catholic Charities and kick off the day's Catholic Bowl events. Cheerleaders from St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Monica, St. Paul, St. Mark, St. Rita, St. Patrick, Christ the King as well as the Jesuit Rangerettes came together in an exhibition of high spirits and skill with the goal of raising awareness and driving contributions to Catholic Charities of Dallas. The event also received support from Dallas Catholic high school cheerleaders from Cistercian, Bishop Lynch and Jesuit, who greeted attendees, shot photos, tallied donations for each school as well as packed up the contributions. “With the holidays around the corner, we are in great need of stocking up on pantry necessities like peanut butter to help our clients make ends meet through the season”, said Aaron Alarcon, Program Director for Catholic Charities.  The cheerleaders, along with approximately 400 attendees brought nearly 800 jars of peanut butter, enough to almost 30,000 sandwiches for families served by Catholic Charities!  St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School took home the Spreading Good Cheer trophy for providing the most donations of peanut butter.

Jesuit's Haggar stadium was packed with pep and cheer as the squads performed their routines and stunts. Molly Vaudry, varsity cheer coach from St. Thomas Aquinas, commented “Our girls look forward to this event.  It is a wonderful way to end our season and serve our community. We plan to continue this tradition.”  To view several videos from the event, visit Youtube and search for “Spreading Good Cheer 2011”. 

Next year's event will be scheduled in conjunction with the Dallas Parochial League Catholic Bowl games.