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.