Service Events

Stone Soup Day

Stone Soup Day is an NDP tradition where we come together as a school to share a simple, common meal of bread and soup as a community.  It comes from the concept in the children’s book Stone Soup where a village that was protective of their limited resources found that by putting what they had together, everyone could be fed.  The meal and all that goes into it is a symbol of our solidarity with people around the globe who have little means for survival.  It also is a symbol of how if we more equitably distribute our resources, everyone can be fed.  We mark this day with a speaker from an outside organization who educates us about the needs of people living in material poverty and other social justice issues.

Students bring in the various ingredients that make up the soup: chopped celery, carrots, onions, crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, potatoes, frozen peas, string beans and corn.  All these items are collected on Monday.  We cook the soup on Tuesday and we serve it on Wednesday in lunch mods along with a slice of bread for $4.  Additional slices of bread are 25 cents and the girls will usually buy extra bread for their lunch table for $2 a loaf.  Water will also be available.  Proceeds go to the charity that is represented by our speaker.

Pasta for the Philippines

Pasta for the Philippines is similar to Stone Soup Day: students and teachers buy their spaghetti and bread to benefit a community in the Philippines. Last year, NDP raised enough money to provide 8,500 lunches for students at the St. Louis School in Tuguegarao (Northern Luzon), Philippines. This event is held during Catholic School's Week.

Dinner for the Elderly

Our oldest service tradition, NDP hosts more than 200 elderly residents of Baltimore’s subsidized housing and low-income parishes for a Sunday-afternoon turkey dinner with all the trimmings, each year since 1978.  NDP students serve the tables and students, faculty, staff, and parents help prepare the meal.  The NDP Jazz ensemble entertains in addition to our guests who often come up and perform songs and recite poetry.

A Penny Queen is elected from each grade to perform crazy stunts and hold unique fundraisers throughout the week.

Penny Queen

Penny Queen is a weeklong competition between the high school grades to see who can raise the most money, which all goes to fund scholarships for kids who go to NDP’s sister school in El Salvador. A Penny Queen is elected from each grade to perform crazy stunts and hold unique fundraisers throughout the week.

Christmas Families

Christmas Families is a service project in which each homeroom receives a family to “give” Christmas to. It is our job to provide them with a Christmas that they would otherwise not be able to have. The purpose of Christmas Families is to involve the student body in a service project that unites them with others in the world, heighten awareness of poverty & the ability to help, spread the spirit of Christmas, & provide for those who have less than us. This service project should also be sensitive to the budgets of the NDP students.

Head Start Christmas Party

The Head Start Christmas Party is a Christmas party in early December for young children from a Head Start program. The kids do a craft, have pizza, play in the gym, watch a movie and meet Santa. Girls, including those not in CCAP love to help out at this event, and the kids really enjoy themselves.

Easter Basket Bunny Brigade

The CCAP Bunny Brigade is a project that upper and middle level homerooms participate in. Easter baskets are made for women and their children living at INNterim House, a transitional shelter with locations in Pikesville and Owings Mills.  Each homeroom will receive a family for which to make Easter Baskets.

Habitat Football Classic

A yearly event sponsored by NDP’s Habitat for Humanity Club in conjunction with Maryvale, Calvert Hall and Loyola.  Rival and opposite gender schools compete in a touch football game each spring to help fund our Sandtown Habitat house in West Baltimore and to raise awareness about affordable housing needs in our local area.  We have a halftime show and give away many prizes.

Red Cross Blood Drives

Working with the Red Cross, two bloods drives are held at NDP, during the school year. Students (16 and older), teachers, parents and others sign up to give blood on those days.

Bread Pans for Our Daily Bread

Once a month, students in each homeroom volunteer to prepare a dish for Our Daily Bread, a soup kitchen in downtown Baltimore. Approximately 360 pans of food are donated each year.

Coffee House

Each Spring, NDP hosts a night of local music acts with coffee provided by Baltimore Coffee & Tea to raise funds for graduates of our sister school in El Salvador seeking to pursue education at a university.  This fund was started by recent alums who wanted to have their Salvadoran peers enjoy the same opportunities they have.

Sophomore Retreat

Run though Campus Ministry, Sophomore Retreat is a day-retreat that officially initiates our high school students in the spirit of service that is pervasive throughout NDP.  Students go out to local nursing homes, low-income elementary schools, outreach centers, etc. then come back to reflect upon their experience living out the Gospel Values on which the school is founded.

The Priceless Gown Project

NDP Class of 1995 Alum, Becky Bovaird Davis, started a non-profit to help low-income high school girls fulfill their dreams of attending their high school prom by setting up a boutique of donated, gently-used, prom, bridesmaid, and other formal dresses.  NDP supports The Priceless Gown Project by forming a committee representing all high school grades to organize a collection of dry-cleaned gowns and accessories each spring.