More than 500 Mount St. Mary Academy students, faculty and staff spent the morning of September 24 volunteering at nearly 20 locations across central Arkansas. The schoolwide day of community service took place in honor of Mercy Day. Around the world, Mercy Day is celebrated to commemorate the day Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy, opened the first House of Mercy in 1827 to serve the sick and poor in Ireland.
In the spirit of the Sisters of Mercy founder, Mount St. Mary honors this important anniversary each year by completing acts of service on its campus, in its surrounding neighborhood and throughout the Little Rock area. This year’s Mercy Day activities included cleaning and picking up trash, preparing meals, sorting clothing, and helping with various additional tasks at churches, schools and organizations that serve those in need. Work was completed at the following sites: ACCESS, The Allen School, Arkansas House of Prayer, Baseline Academy, Calvary Cemetery, Camp Aldersgate, Carmel of St. Teresa of Jesus, CHI St. Vincent, Easterseals Arkansas, Friendly Chapel Church of the Nazarene, Habitat for Humanity, The Helping Hand of Greater Little Rock, Little Rock Compassion Center, Live Thankfully Little Rock, Mount St. Mary Academy, Recycle Bikes for Kids, St. Joseph Center of Arkansas, St. Theresa Catholic School, and The Van.
The MSM community gathered together in the McAuley Center gymnasium later in the day for a special all-school Mercy Day Mass. Prior to Mass, 16 Mount students were recognized during the Mercy Day Scholarship Awards Presentation. The day of celebration ended with the Mercy Education System of the Americas (MESA) installation of Dr. Pattie Davis and Sara Jones as Mount St. Mary Academy’s new president and principal, respectively. Mount was honored to have Kimberly Baxter, MESA associate director for programs and services, and Sr. Deborah Troillett ’73, MESA board member and former president of Mount St. Mary from 1997-2011, in attendance to lead the special ceremony.
View photos from Mercy Day 2019 at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHhtWNm.
Mount St. Mary Academy, sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy, develops young women with a moral and intellectual foundation rooted in Catholic tradition. Mercy-minded and college-prepared, our students meet the future with wisdom, compassion and integrity.