BUTLER TWP — They say there’s no such thing as coincidences.

That’s what a Butler Township resident thought when a series of events led to three Butler Catholic School students voluntarily shoveling her snow as a surprise last week.

“I was on the phone all day for two days, trying to find someone to do it,” the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said. “They just came to help me out. It was wonderful.”

Events were set in motion when the Butler Township resident asked if her January Saints Supper order could be delivered to her home.

Saints Suppers are monthly take-and-bake meals developed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to raise money for the school. Meals are prepared in the school cafeteria by BCS parent volunteers. Those who purchase them pick them up at school once a month.

Though Saints Suppers aren’t usually delivered, something moved event organizer Kathy Dudley to say yes to the resident’s request. Maria Cosme, a third-grade teacher at BCS, picked up the order after school and delivered it to the Butler Township home Monday night.

As she approached the house, Cosme noticed the driveway, walkway and wheelchair ramp hadn’t been shoveled for several days.

“The roads were so bad,” Cosme said. “I couldn’t see where the driveway was and the ramp was icy.”

After talking to the homeowner, Cosme called her neighbor Renee Weifenbaugh, a BCS parent whose sixth-grade son Drew likes to help people. Drew quickly recruited his friends, fifth-grader Greyson Sayler and seventh-grader Zachary Griser to stop by the woman’s home after school Tuesday.

“They didn’t care about getting the credit,” Weifenbaugh said. “This was just people helping people.”

The resident said she was surprised to open her door Tuesday afternoon to see Weifenbaugh and three BCS students dressed in snow gear, ready to work.

“Kids don’t come around and do these things anymore,” the woman said. “To see more than just one person … it was a very big surprise.”

She explained access points to her home had not been shoveled despite recent the heavy snowfall. This prevented her from being able to leave her home for days.

After Greyson, Drew and Zach finished shoveling, they stopped to talk with the resident.

“(Weifenbaugh) brought the boys up on the porch,” she said.

One of the things they discovered during the visit is that she’s a former student of St. Paul’s School — one of the three parish schools that merged in 1969 to establish BCS. In a way, the encounter brought her full-circle.

For Greyson, Drew and Zach, the experience opened their eyes.

“We got to help someone who might have needed to get to the hospital,” Drew said.

The boys have worked together before, as basketball teammates at BCS. They said after joining forces Tuesday afternoon at the resident’s house, they want to keep helping her and others like her.

Weifenbaugh is already leading efforts to organize volunteers to check on the resident whenever it snows. The boys support the idea.

“You should be kind to everybody you meet,” Zach said.

“Try to help if you can,” Greyson added.

For Greyson, Drew and Zach, shoveling was just another small way to lead a Christ-like life. But to the person they helped, their actions were far more than an act of kindness.

“I call them my little angels,” she said.

At school Wednesday, Principal Sister John Ann Mulhern spoke about the deeds done by Greyson, Drew and Zach to other BCS students. She hopes they inspire selflessness, kindness and action.

“It was great to see the corporal works of mercy put into action by three young men who are very quiet about what they do,” Mulhern said. “We’re very proud of them.”