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Happening ... in the Local Church
By Kevin Cullen
The
Catholic Moment
From “Pajama Day” to the sale of hot cocoa and pancakes, parishes and schools across the Lafayette diocese are coming up with innovative ways to raise money for survivors of the earthquake that killed an estimated 150,000 people in Haiti.
In the wake of the Jan. 12 disaster, second collections were held in many parishes. Here are a few examples of other efforts:
• Guerin Catholic High School in Noblesville collected $600 in cash and 300 pairs of new shoes by participating in the “Samaritans Feet” program.
“People donated at the basketball game, and the coaches coached the game barefoot,” said Colleen Ward, director of public relations and communications. “We collected shoes for a week prior to the game, and at the door at the game. We were overwhelmed. It’s all going to Haiti.”
• On Jan. 19, the kids at St. Lawrence School in Muncie held a “Wear Your Pajamas to School Day” fund-raiser that brought in $868.50 for the Haiti Relief Fund.
Principal Lynn Ranieri said that the children loved the idea.
“They brought in donations of any amount, and they could wear pajamas and tennis shoes to school that day,” she said. “Our families were very generous. We had families that wrote very generous checks, and children who brought in money from their piggy banks.”
Regardless of age, the students know that “people don’t have homes and food, and we are helping them,” she said. “It will be used for medical supplies.”
• Students at Our Lady of Grace School, Noblesville, are sponsoring a “Change for Change” fund-raiser.
From now through Feb. 8, they are asking everyone to deposit loose change into buckets inside each classroom and outside the Religious Education Office. The proceeds will go to Haiti.
“We’re having a ‘penny war’ during Catholic Schools Week,” said Principal Maureen Clerkin. “It’s a competition between the classes to bring in as many pennies and (other) coins as they can. There’s no prize. We will just see who can bring in the most. It will all be donated to Haiti.”
At lunchtime on Jan. 29 and after Mass on Jan. 31, third-graders also sold hot chocolate to raise money for earthquake relief.
“This (disaster) left a big impression on all of us; I think that has been unavoidable, even for kids. It’s horrifying and sad,” Clerkin said.
The parish also hosted two “Tylenol Sunday” events, designed to collect sealed packages of the popular non-prescription pain reliever, for delivery to a clinic in St. Louis de Sud, about 60 miles from the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince.
A regularly scheduled parish mission trip planned for Jan. 19-27 had to be canceled. Father Tom Metzger and eight parishioners had planned to fly into Port-au-Prince, then continue on to their “sister” parish, St. Louis du Sud, to paint, install water lines, and work on a composting latrine at the parish church there.
• Central Catholic Junior-Senior High School, Lafayette, is helping Haitians spiritually and materially, said Joe Brettnacher, interim principal.
“As soon as the earthquake happened, we got on a Web site and found prayers that were recommended by the pope. We put the people of Haiti in our prayer intentions,” he said.
A mass e-mail was sent to members of the Central Catholic community, urging them to send checks to the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, with “Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund” in the memo line.
Profits from a Valentine’s Day carnation sale at CC will be devoted to relief efforts in Haiti. Students, faculty and staff also have been invited to drop cash donations into a container in the school office. And in mid-February, students will be asked to donate $2 each to participate in a “dress down” spirit day.
• The cathedral parish’s Haiti Committee, The Buttery Shelf Eatery and The Shepherdess of Harmony Farm co-sponsored a “Song of Hope” concert Jan. 30, featuring the Purdue University Glee Club. Tickets for the concert were $15 each, or $25 each including dinner.
Parishioner Helen Hession, who is in charge of fund raising for the parish Haiti committee, said that all 200 dinner tickets were sold. More people came to the concert only.
She and others also are working with an Indianapolis-based Haiti relief organization to coordinate a medical mission trip.
• Within 12 days of the quake, St. John the Baptist Parish in Tipton raised $14,801.50 for Haiti.
A second collection brought in $14,205, and the women of the Prayer Shawl Ministry added $596.50 — half of the money raised at a pancake and sausage breakfast.
“What a blessing for the poor people of Haiti,” Father Leroy Kinnaman said in his parish bulletin.
• Volunteers at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, Carmel, hope to organize a surgical mission trip to Haiti, said Lynda Pitz, chair of the Haiti Ministry there. The parish already has sent $40,000 to Catholic Relief Services to help with quake relief.
“We have very generous parishioners,” she said. “We had some initial relief efforts, two well-attended prayer services and a second collection.”
The parish’s twin is St. Antoine de Padoue Church in Petit Riviere de Nippes, approximately 60 miles from Port-au-Prince. Damage to the parish was fairly minor, but clinics in outlying towns and villages are expected to be called upon to receive many of the wounded from the capital of Port-au-Prince.
“The focus (of the medical mission) has changed. It will now be wound care, infections, things like that,” Pitz said. “We have had an outpouring of surgeons in the area who would like to go on a surgical trip.”
Pitz and other volunteers also want to assist families that might be interested in adopting Haitian orphans. “There are some parishioners and others in Indiana whose hearts have been moved to offer to adopt these children,” she said. “We would like to help them as well. We need to get the word out.”
• On Jan. 29, the Haiti Ministry at St. Patrick Church, Kokomo, sponsored a “Trivia Night” to raise money for the parish’s sister parish, St. Therese Church in Marfranc, about 100 miles from Port-au-Prince.
The event pitted teams of six people against each other, as they tried to answer trivia questions. Admission was $10 per person.
“This will be our fourth one; we do it twice a year. We usually raise $1,000 or so,” said Rita Morrow, one of the “Trivia Night” organizers. “It is for our twin parish in Haiti, and I’m sure there will be more needs there because of the earthquake. It will be harder to get things, and things will be more expensive.
“We have heard from the priest down there. Some of the houses were damaged but nobody was killed or injured,” she said. “Things will be difficult because so much comes through Port-au-Prince.”
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Have you been to Haiti since the quake? We’d like to tell your story. Call Kevin Cullen at 800-942-2397.