Kenya, meanwhile, has been served in educational projects by the De La Salle Christian Brothers since 1963. La Salle's former 18-year principal, the late Brother James Romond who died of cancer in October, always felt his school should contribute to St. Mary's and continue to participate in other annual community service activities. Annually from 1991-98, under the leadership of Brother James, La Salle's students contributed more food to the WRGB Food Drive for Students Against Hunger than any other school. Additionally, he brought the La Salle students together during Christmas for the annual Toy Drive in which they donated over 500 toys each year for the past 15 years. St. Mary's, about 100 miles north of Nairobi, is a mission school now run by the De La Salle Brothers.
Tuition is kept low due to the good management and student self-sufficiency.
Students maintain their school by cleaning the buildings, maintaining the grounds, growing their own food, and preparing food, serving it and cleaning up after themselves. I was extremely proud of the students when they came up with the idea of sending the magazine drive profit to St. Mary's in Kenya. La Salle students have also been very active in other annual community service activities this year as well. At Christmas, students donated over 750 toys for its 19th annual Toy Drive. Also, Lasallian Youth, a community service club at the school, has continued to visit Van Rensselaer Manor Nursing Home three times a week to serve food and entertain seniors while the Service Club serves food at St. Mary's Soup Kitchen twice a week.