Random acts of kindness are commonplace for students in Catholic schools. This is the story of how one such act is reaching global proportions.
    It began with Christmas cards created by art students in third, fourth and fifth grades at St. Louis School in Castroville under the guidance of their art teacher, Nancy Barrow.
    For the past four years, the students have sold these cards and given the proceeds to the St. Vincent de Paul Society ministry of St. Louis Church.
    Last December, Barrow and the students decided to send their Christmas cards to the American troops stationed aboard the USS Enterprise. They included personal letters with their cards.

    Barrow said the students received a “tremendous response from the marines and sailors. They sent notes, some encouraging the students to stay in school, some to reassure the students the troops were protecting them.”
    The response prompted her and the students to want to “do something more” for the troops. “What we could do as a Catholic school, and do very well,” Barrow said, “was pray.”
    So, in a conversation with her son, Master Sgt. Glenn Barrow, mother and son came up with an idea that would have a far reaching impact.
    Sgt. Barrow, who serves in the Air Force’s Courier Services Division at McChord Air Force Base in Washington. found a bear dressed in combat fatigues that Nancy Barrow and her students dubbed     “Sgt. Louis” after the school’s namesake.
    With Sgt. Barrow’s connections as a courier agent, Barrow and the students were able to send Sgt. Louis to various military bases with the attached mission statement:
    “Sgt. Louis came from St. Louis Catholic School in Castroville, Texas, to bring a message to all men and women in the armed forces that the students of St. Louis were praying for their safe return home and an end to the war.”

    Sgt. Barrow’s fellow couriers willingly routed the bear “with its backpack” to bases in Germany, Turkey, Iraq and bases all over the United States.
    Again, as with the Christmas cards, the response from troops was great. E-mails and pictures poured in. Barrow posted pins on a huge world map board so the students could keep track of where Sgt. Louis was delivering their message of prayer.
    Since the beginning of their project in January, the students gathered in the cafeteria every day at noon, with the lights off, and then said three Hail Marys for the United States troops all over the world.
    Sgt. Louis, decorated with a few medals, is taking in some R&R (rest and relaxation) for the summer and will ship out sometime in August.