Saint John’s Mar Thoma Church in Queens Village has made a big impact in the community through its outreach programs, with its most recent venture involving a grant donation to Cardozo’s NJROTC and music departments.
The initiative is part of the church’s mission to uplift its neighborhood and foster a sense of responsibility and excellence in the community.
“Our church, every year, budgets for outreach programs in the neighborhood because we stay in this community and like to help our neighborhood,” said Beji Joseph, a member of the church. “This year, we decided to collaborate with Cardozo. When we asked, they said the music department needed help.”
The grant will go directly toward purchasing new instruments for the music program at Cardozo. Mr. Oberer, a teacher from the school’s music department, expressed his gratitude for the donation.
“Our music program is flourishing and growing every single year to the point that we need to be able to put instruments in students’ hands. This grant will provide more students the opportunity to learn,” he said.
The money is also going to be directed at helping fund the NJROTC program, which currently has over 250 cadets.
The collaboration reflects a bond between the church and the school, strengthened by shared values and personal connections. “We have a connection to this school because one of our members’ daughters graduated from Cardozo last year, so we have a good relationship with the school,” Joseph explained.
Being able to form relationships outside of school is very important so this grant allows us to create relationships beyond the walls of Cardozo.
The church’s outreach efforts go far beyond this initiative. One of its major programs, Light to Life, helps children in need, not just locally but also in poorer countries and parts of the southern United States. Through this program, church members donate $240 per year to support around 7,000 children by providing essential resources and improving their quality of life. Additionally, the church engages in programs for Native American communities, helping build homes and improve living conditions in New Mexico and other states.
This, among other initiatives, align with Cardozo High School’s HERO mission.
HERO is Cardozo’s mission for its students is: Humanity, meaning being kind and accepting of others who may be different from you, Excellence, being able to be the student you strive to be while being able to uplift others, Responsibility, being a student who not only focuses on students ability to hand in work as well as balancing home life, and Ownership, this further goes into how you treat others and how you own up to the actions that you do.
The church’s mission aligns with Cardozo’s HERO as, “Humanity is there, humanity, excellence, responsibility and ownership, it’s part of the church. We focus on humanity, mankind to fellow human beings, and with excellence, definitely we want the children to do their best as possible, and be responsible members of this society and take ownership of whatever they do,” stated Joseph.
The school is more than grateful for Saint John’s Mar Thoma Church Church’s generous donation to its programs, as it allows more students to be able to participate in learning new instruments and finding their purpose in ROTC.
