Chicagoland

Students assemble prosthetic hands for people in need

By Michelle Martin | Staff writer
Apr 22, 2026 6:17:00 PM

Students assemble prosthetic hands for people in need

Students at Alphonsus Academy and Center for the Arts, 1439 W. Wellington Ave., take part in a service project making prosthetic hands for children in need throughout the world with the nonprofit Helping Hands on April 16, 2026. Students from St. Malachy and St. Ann schools also took part in the event. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Students listen as Matt Compana, founder of Hands of Gratitude, gives students background on what his organization does before they start assembling limbs. Students at Alphonsus Academy and Center for the Arts, 1439 W. Wellington Ave., take part in a service project making prosthetic hands for children in need throughout the world with the nonprofit Helping Hands on April 16, 2026. Students from St. Malachy and St. Ann schools also took part in the event. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Matt Compana, founder of Hands of Gratitude, gives students background on his organization before they start assembling limbs. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Alphonsus Academy student Sami Brakeman joins Melissa Valdez and Leslie Medina, both from St. Ann School, to assemble a prosthetic hand. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
A kit sits on a table identifying who the prosthetic will go to in another country when students arrive to assemble prosthetic hands. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Alex Kreis from Alphonsus Academy, Emma Perez from St. Ann and Alannah Palmer from Alphonsus Academy and Center for the Arts, look over their kit and instructions before beginning assembly. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Compana assists Isabella Villagomez and Mariana Miranda, both from St. Ann School, and Hillis Chapdelaine and Jameson Walsh from Alphonsus Academy with assembling fingers for the hand. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Hillis Chapdelaine from Alphonsus Academy works to attach the fingers on the hand. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
St. Malachy students Alyaya Coakly and Ki'Yany Fox put finishing touches on the prosthetic hand. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Jax Pragalz from Alphonsus Academy, Samirian Dyson and Taiden Greenlee from St. Malachy School, and Alyssa Gonzalez from St. Ann School, put fingers together on the prosthetic hand they are assembling. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
An assembled hand and a message for a recipient is on display as an example. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Students work together on the project. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
St. Malachy seventh grader Matthew Cooper puts finishing touches on the prosthetic hand his group is assembling. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Seventh graders from three Chicago Catholic schools gathered April 16 to build prosthetic hands for people in need.

Alphonsus Academy and Center for the Arts, 1439 W. Wellington Ave., spearheaded the project with Hands of Gratitude, a nonprofit that works with corporations, schools and other organizations to assemble 3D-printed parts into prosthetics.

Sami Dubiel, the library and media specialist at Alphonsus Academy, heard about the organization early in the school year from a former teacher at the school who knew someone connected to Hands of Gratitude.

“I thought this would fit perfectly into our STEM program,” Dubiel said.

School leaders decided it would be a good fit for seventh graders, but not just those at Alphonsus Academy. They reached out to St. Ann School, 2211 W. 18th Place, and to St. Malachy School, 2252 W. Washington St., as well.

The Alphonsus Academy seventh graders raised the money they needed to host the program — about $4,500 for 25 kits and related costs — by selling hot chocolate after school and selling St. Patrick’s Day necklaces, a few of which had a lucky shamrock that entitled the purchaser’s whole class to an out-of-uniform day, Dubiel said.

Once everything was ready, the students listened to Hands of Gratitude founder Matt Campana explain how many people around the world need prosthetics but can’t afford them.

“It’s a unique opportunity to change the life of someone dramatically and instantly,” said Campana, after showing videos of recipients putting on the prosthetics for the first time and immediately being able to move the fingers and thumbs and even lift a full bookbag.

In 11 years, the group has provided about 5,000 prosthetic devices of various designs, most of them hands, to people in the U.S. as well as in Central America, the Dominican Republic, Southeast Asia, India and parts of Africa.

Campana said his group works with partner organizations in each of those regions; he plans to deliver the prosthetics assembled at Alphonsus Academy to Guatemala in early May.

A related non-profit, the Hands of Gratitude Project, funds the delivery of the prosthetics around the world.

The students were divided into groups to work, with each group receiving a kit, a bag to hold the completed device, a photo and information about the person who will receive the device, and cards for students to write messages of encouragement to the recipients.

Campana reminded the students to be in a “space of gratitude” as they worked, even if they found parts of the job difficult.

“If you’re looking at your two hands building a device for someone who only has one, that can put you in a place of gratitude,” he said.

Josh Dempsey, assistant principal of St. Ann School, said the project fit not just into STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, but STREAM (science, technology, religion, engineering arts and math).

“One of our goals is to have more of these hands-on service opportunities,” Dempsey said, adding that the students talked about how making the hands fits into the corporal works of mercy before leaving on the field trip.

Seventh grader Norberto Lomeli said that building the hands was similar to building Lego projects, although a bit trickier because the pieces were not as uniform.

“It’s really cool that we’re helping people who need it,” he said. “In our school, we say, ‘To serve, to lead, to love,’ and this is a way we can do that.”

Renée Mandeldove, wellness teacher at St. Malachy, said she was impressed with what the students were able to do.

“I think it’s amazing,” she said.

Some of her students were a little nervous about visiting another school, she said, but they warmed up once they started working with their groups and focusing on the help they could give to people who needed it.

“I feel good about being able to do this,” said St. Malachy seventh grader Samirian Dyson. “People really struggle with one arm.”

Maisie Durkin, a seventh grader at Alphonsus Academy, said the project made her appreciate the good fortune that she and her classmates enjoy.

“We’re all so fortunate and have so many things, so it’s important to find ways to give back to the community,” she said.

Alphonsus Academy Principal Gerit McAllister said that the school always tries to provide a lot of opportunities for service, but the Hands of Gratitude project was “probably a step above” anything else the students had done.

McAllister said. “So I want them to take away the feeling and belief that we connect to God when we are helping others and serving others, and carry that with them today and into the future in high school and college and far beyond that. They can do so much,” McAllister said. “They’re only kids, but they can do so much to help in the world.”

Topics:

  • catholic schools
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