The students in Mrs. McCarthy’s 3rd grade class surprised ACS Event Coordinator Christian Delacruz on December 23 with a special Christmas gift — a poster full of hand-written letters thanking him for his dedication and hard work serving the students and staff and an envelope filled with $300 in cash.
“We had a class discussion in November about doing a service project to bless someone at Christmas who works at the school and sometimes goes unnoticed, but deserves appreciation for all they do,” said Mrs. McCarthy. “I wanted the students to learn about what the word “sacrifice” means — to put others before ourselves.” The class voted and selected Mr. Delacruz and then the students had a month to do chores at home to earn money to give as a Christmas gift.
In the students’ letters to Delacruz, they thanked him for all his efforts to make the Race for Education and the One Christmas Night Festival a success. They also talked about the valuable lesson they learned about sacrificing by giving up their personal time to do chores to be a blessing to someone else. The students described the various chores they did, including setting the table, doing dishes, and cleaning their bedroom.
When he was presented with the poster and envelope of cash, Delacruz could only say — “This is such a blessing. Thank you so much. I’m shocked. I’m speechless.”
Delacruz joined the ACS staff in February 2020 to work on the facilities team. This September, he began teaching two high school Bible classes — Biblical Leadership and Bible Study No Excuses — and leading a chapel COMPASS group. He moved into the position of Event Coordinator in mid-October. Delacruz and his wife, Cristina, have three children and his son, CJ, is an ACS 6th grader. They live in Egg Harbor Township.
This is the second time that Mrs. McCarthy’s class has given a surprise Christmas gift to an ACS staff member. The last recipient was ACS custodian Juan Perez in December 2019.