Peters girl uses strike time to help others
Lexi Phillips shows some of the boxes she has assembled, as family dog Bailey looks on. Phillips attends seventh-grade in Peters Township School District, where teachers are on strike. Instead of watching TV or sleeping late, Phillips decided to assemble Christmas gift packages for the Operation Christmas Child program.
Kimberly and Lexi Phillips look through some of the gift boxes that the family has assembled.
Lexi and Kimberly Phillips look through some of the gift boxes that the family has assembled.
Lexi Phillips
McMURRAY – Lexi Phillips had an unexpected vacation because of the Peters Township School District teachers’ strike.
Rather than spend the time watching television or sleeping late, the 12-year-old daughter of Kimberly and Casey Phillips of McMurray decided to use her free days to assemble holiday boxes for underprivileged children.
With the help of her mother – along with her sister, Gigi, 10, and brother, Brennan, 8 – the Peters Township Middle School seventh-grader has been spending her time making sure each box is filled with items for needy children around the world.
“It’s important to help people who are lonely and in need,” Lexi said.
This is the third year Lexi and her family have been involved in Operation Christmas Child, which is part of Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization run by Billy Graham’s son, Franklin. The Bible Chapel in McMurray, where the Phillips family attends church, is one of the local sponsors. The family also attends church at St. Benedict the Abbot in Peters.
Each year, Kimberly puts a large plastic tub in her basement. Lexi, her sister and brother then periodically place inexpensive toys or candies in the tub, along with essentials such as socks, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste. As the holidays edge closer, Lexi, with help from her mother, will divvy up the items for both boys and girls into age-appropriate categories: 2 to 4 years, 5 to 9 and 10 to 11.
“We’ve been working on it year-round,” Kimberly Phillips said.
This year, Lexi assembled 46 boxes for children, nearly 20 more than last year. The boxes will be sent to more than 100 countries, where local churches give them to children in need.
Kimberly said she has always tried to encourage her children to give back to the community. They are participating in the Angel Tree program at the Bible Chapel, where holiday gifts are purchased and then distributed to people in need. And last Thanksgiving, the Phillips family served lunch at Bidwell Training Center on Pittsburgh’s North Side.
Like many parents who have children in district schools, Kimberly has tried to keep her children busy during the school district’s work stoppage. Besides helping Lexi with the gift boxes, the Phillips family has baked cookies for veterans, visited Washington Area Humane Society to play with the dogs waiting to be adopted, and donated candy to the Meals on Wheels program.
Lexi, who hopes to become a doctor, has enjoyed her time off helping people in need. But she admitted she is looking forward to school starting again.
The teachers, who walked off their jobs Oct. 28, are scheduled to be back in the classroom Friday. It is not yet clear if there will be a second strike.
“I like school and learning about things,” said Lexi, adding she has spent much of her time off reading. “I like social studies and history.”
And she has missed seeing her friends.
“I am looking forward to seeing them, too,” she said.