St. Labre schools closed on 3/16/20, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, both Catholic Bishops in Montana directed all Catholic schools to remain closed until May 4, 2020. St. Labre is complying with this directive to keep our students safe. Unfortunately, this creates a serious concern for our nearly 700 students.
Thanks to our generous donors, the boys and girls of St. Labre count on us to provide them breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner during the week. And on weekends and holiday breaks, we send hungry kids home with enough food to get them through the time away from school. Because our closure was so sudden, we were not able to do that.
Now that Montana Governor Steve Bullock issued a Shelter-At-Home Directive that went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning, March 28, only essential staff will report to work sites. Some of these staff members will be putting together much needed nutritious meals and safely delivering them to our students, some who live very far from our campus here in Ashland, daily.
Teachers will continue to educate our Native American students virtually. Within days of St. Labre schools closing, Chromebooks were delivered to our 5th thru 12th students. These essential devices will allow boys and girls to access daily assignments and attend live online classes with their instructors. For our younger students, educational packets will be delivered weekly and teachers will be available via telephone, email, or video chat to answer any questions the children or parents may have throughout the week.
Please keep us in your daily prayers, and we will keep you in our as well.
The financial support that our donors provide for our Native American students is more crucial than ever. Please consider making a donation today to help during this crisis.