Kindergarten-9th grade contributed to Dr. Elizabeth Hickman’s mission trip to El Salvador in March, 2012. From our parish she brought: 425 toothbrushes; 210 bars of soap; 72 bottles of shampoo; 248 tubes of toothpaste; 1000 pencils; 72 calculators; 25 note pads; 2500 sheets of writing paper; 45boxes of crayons; 57 rulers; 35 pencil sharpeners; 20 pens; 270 erasers; 26 back packs; Many folders, binders and markers! We hope to support this project annually.
Tanzania Well Project
During Lent of 2012, parishioners donated $5,004 along with the generosity of a special friend, a total of $10,000 was donated to help move a well-drilling rig from Illinois to Diocese of Same in Tanzania to drill community wells, so people do not have to travel far to obtain water for their families. This Lenten project was chosen instead of the annual Rice Bowl collection - due to our connection with our sister parish, Christ the King in Makanya Tanzania
Kids Against Hunger
During the 2012 Vacation Bible School, 6,000 meals were packaged for the Kids Against Hunger Program. Donations from the 230+ participants along with $500 from the Catholic Foresters supported this effort. Kids Against Hunger packages highly nutritious, life-saving meals for starving children and malnourished children and their families in developing countries and the United States. KAU has provided over 200 million meals for children and their families in more than 60 countries through the efforts of hundreds of thousands of volunteers.
Tanzania Scholarship Program
Scholarships were provided, by St. Mary's families, for 22 children among the poorest and neediest in the rural areas of Tanzania. The program hopes to educate poor and marginalized children who are academically capable but lack resources - many are children whos mothers have been abandoned by their husbands, children from extremely ppor families, and orphans. Hopefully through education, the the cycle of poverty, which as engulfed these families from generation to generation, can be broken.