A message from Claire Kranz, Director of Salesian Life and Campus Ministry:

For 35 years, students at Visitation School have participated in a wonderful project to help provide a Christmas celebration for children in North Minneapolis. We began with about 150 children and have served as many as 775 in one year. 

Through the Sisters at Minneapolis Visitation Monastery, we obtain the names of children in the area who are in need. Most of their families do not have the resources to provide a Christmas celebration. 

This year, we are hoping to provide Christmas gifts for around 500 children. They will come from the Sisters’ neighborhood - friends and neighborhood kids; from Northside Child Development Center, a Catholic Charities-run day care; from Phyllis Wheatley Community Center, providing counseling and childcare services to families in the midst of the housing projects; and from Ascension Academy Schools. 

With each stocking you sign up to provide, you will receive the name and age of the child who will receive it. Families or students will decorate the provided stocking in any way they choose (being sure to put the child’s name on it) and to fill it with approximately $40 worth of wrapped toys, mittens, socks, candy, etc., appropriate to the child’s age. You may include 1or 2 gifts outside of the stocking, but should not be much larger than the stocking.

Please remember to WRAP the stocking gifts - this makes it more fun for the child receiving it and it’s a great way for family members to help with the preparation.

If your family would like to sponsor one or more stockings, please complete this form. We will send names, ages, stockings, and directions home as soon as possible. Stockings may be returned as soon as they are completed but all stockings MUST be returned to school by Friday, December 12 in order to best facilitate sorting and delivery. 

Thank you for your generosity with this project. The students love this project every year - it’s very special because it’s so personal. With everyone’s help, we hope to provide stockings for all of these children. 

Please reach out with any questions. 

Christmas Stocking Project