St. Thomas the Apostle

Come, Grow, Serve, Make a Difference

Caring for Kids Ministry

St. Thomas serves as a faith community support for Comanche Elementary School located in the Shawnee Mission School District.  Comanche is a title one school with an 86% rate of students on free and reduced lunches of which 44% are ELL Students.  This school also has a high count of families being deported and often times, one parent is left behind to care for the family.  In many cases, families are doubling up in the same household, and frequently, many young children are considered latch key kids as they are left home alone after school.

As a faith community sponsor, we in combination with the City of Overland Park, Johnson County Library, the Overland Park Police Department, Community Impact Church and various other local businesses and organizations have committed to helping develop relationships and a sense of trust among both Comanche Elementary and Overland Park communities by supporting the school to help build and grow on the relationships between the school staff and families on both an educational and social level. 

Ways we support the Comanche Community:

  • BackSnacks – Prepacked Healthy snacks and beverages from Harvesters is provided weekly to students who qualify for additional support.
  • School Supplies:  Donate school supplies, volunteer with setup/packing/cleanup, recruitment/organization of volunteers (annually)
  • Assessment Snacks: Donate snacks for students during their assessment test weeks, recruit/organize snack donation (annually)
  • Classroom volunteers/mentors:  (Need to be trained with the School District – weekly or monthly)
  • Read Across America Week:  Recruit volunteer readers (annually)
  • Meals: Community picnic, Dinner for teachers and staff during parent/teacher conferences, and 6th Grade Graduation Breakfast (Recruit volunteers for Setup/food donations/cook/serve/cleanup per annual events – all events are annually)
  • Mobile Library:  Donate books, organize the donation drives (as school requests)
  • STEM Classes:  Volunteer to teach or assist with STEM classes, recruit volunteers (annually as rqstd)
  • Emergency support to families in need (donate clothing, furniture, and food donations when needed)
  • Recruit and organize volunteers with any event as they come up

To get involved, please contact the St. Thomas office at 913-451-0512!