Featured Outreach -
"Pennies for Papoli"

Each grade level at St.
Mary's supports a cause every year, raising both money and awareness. For their community
service project this year, Mrs. Cardenas's and Mrs. Boza's sixth grade homeroom
classes initiated the Pennies for Papoli Drive at St. Mary’s. In a school wide
assembly, the sixth graders educated the St. Mary's student body on the Pennies
for Papoli Drive. They made containers for classes and for individuals to collect the pennies. Sixth graders lobbied the Student Council to suggest that the
mite box collection go toward the Pennies for Papoli Drive. The Student Council
voted to make the suggestion. Father Kezar accepted their request, as the drive
coincided with lent. The drive earned $1,456.05. The sixth graders created a video about their drive to encourage other groups to have a Pennies
for Papoli Drive. To see the video, go to the Village Partners International
website
www.villagepartnersinternational.org.
Papoli is a
village in Uganda, Africa. The pennies and other money raised by the sixth
graders were donated to Village Partners International (VPI), a non-profit
organization. VPI will uses the entire donation to help meet the needs of the
Pediatric Care Center, which is being built by VPI. The Care Center provides a
variety of nutrition, medical, educational services as well as emotional support
for the children in the area. There are over 2,000 children in the Papoli area
that have AIDS or are HIV positive. Many children are orphans, raising younger
children because diseases have killed their parents. The purpose of the drive
is to provide a way for children to become involved in helping other children
while educating a wider community about the needs of our brothers and sisters in
other places of the world. The sixth grade class is helping to make the world a
healthier and more caring place.
St. Mary's Episcopal Day School
2101 South Hubert Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33629
(813) 258-5508
Fax: (813) 258-5603