Congratulations to Northwest Catholic High School for completing the Catholic Relief Service Helping Hands Project! After participating in the Helping Hands event at the Catholic Youth Spectacular in September, 2013, the students from Northwest decided to bring the project to their school. More than 50 students and faculty volunteers turned out for the school's project on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Helping Hands is a hands-on volunteer meal-packaging event developed by Catholic Relief Services and Raleigh, NC-based Stop Hunger Now.
During the event, Northwest Catholic students, parents, and faculty worked in teams to assemble meal packages of rice, soy flour, vitamins and dehydrated vegetables, weigh them, seal them, pack them in boxes, and load them onto a truck for transport. The group packaged 10,000 meals during the two-hour event. The packages are destined for a village in the West African country of Burkina Faso.
"There was so much energy on the part of the kids and there were so many ready to help," said Director of Campus Ministry Kristina Gillespie. "We have a lot of students who really have a heart for service and this was a unique and fun way to serve and strengthen our school community."
Throughout the Lenten season, members of the Northwest Catholic community were asked to give up something each week, such as a cup of coffee, and donate the money they saved to the project. The total raised for Helping Hands, over $5,000, paid for the food and will help fund programs and initiatives to enable the people of Burkina Faso learn to grow their own food and better their lives and their community.
If you would like to know more about Helping Hands, or are interested in planning an event for your own youth group or parish, come to the "Youth in Action" workshop at the Bishop Peter Rosazza Social Justice Conference or contact Sarah Hillier at (203) 777-7279 or sarah.hillier@aohct.org.
During the event, Northwest Catholic students, parents, and faculty worked in teams to assemble meal packages of rice, soy flour, vitamins and dehydrated vegetables, weigh them, seal them, pack them in boxes, and load them onto a truck for transport. The group packaged 10,000 meals during the two-hour event. The packages are destined for a village in the West African country of Burkina Faso.
"There was so much energy on the part of the kids and there were so many ready to help," said Director of Campus Ministry Kristina Gillespie. "We have a lot of students who really have a heart for service and this was a unique and fun way to serve and strengthen our school community."
Throughout the Lenten season, members of the Northwest Catholic community were asked to give up something each week, such as a cup of coffee, and donate the money they saved to the project. The total raised for Helping Hands, over $5,000, paid for the food and will help fund programs and initiatives to enable the people of Burkina Faso learn to grow their own food and better their lives and their community.
If you would like to know more about Helping Hands, or are interested in planning an event for your own youth group or parish, come to the "Youth in Action" workshop at the Bishop Peter Rosazza Social Justice Conference or contact Sarah Hillier at (203) 777-7279 or sarah.hillier@aohct.org.
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