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St. Mary’s Life Teen is responding to the post-earthquake humanitarian situation in Haiti with pennies – buckets of them.
Last Sunday, the Catholic youth ministry program launched “Penny Wars,” in which members of each high school class will bring in pennies to fill up their Poland Springs-sized bucket. The goal is to get as many pennies in your bucket as possible. But silver coins and dollar bills take away the pennies – so if you put a dollar bill in another class’s bucket, that negates 100 of their pennies.
“So the more money you can bring in, the more money is raised,” said Jason Deramo, the youth minister of St. Mary’s Parish.
The idea is to beat each other and give the money to Haiti relief, said Lylah Fitzgerald, 18, a senior at Millis High School.
“If you make it a spirit of competition, I think people are more likely to do it,” she said. “And it makes it more fun, and it shows that giving isn’t always a burden – it can be a joy.”
Proceeds from the contest, which will be held throughout February, will go to Catholic Relief Services, and to a plane ticket for a Haitian-American woman whose brother died in the disaster.
“We had a woman from our parish who lost her brother in the earthquake come and speak to the kids on what that was like, to kind of put a face to the tragedy,” Deramo said of the “Life Night on Haiti” they held after Mass on Sunday, Jan. 24.
She told the teens about how she lost her brother, how that is affecting her and her family, and about conditions in Haiti, Deramo said.
“You hear so many people talking about it, but then you get a full-on story from somebody who is local, and it makes an impact on you,” said Vittoria Spada, 15, a sophomore at Fontbonne Academy in Milton. “You can really tell how much she is hurting, and you can tell her kids are hurting too.”
Fitzgerald felt moved and touched by the woman’s words. “I feel like one person’s story means more than all the numbers,” Fitzgerald said, adding that it shows how the earthquake “affects people right in the town where most of us live, right there in Dedham.”
A leader of the Dedham Temple Haitian Seventh-Day Adventist Church also spoke that night. As they talked about how to make it more than a one-time event, the teens came up with “Penny Wars,” Deramo said.
St. Mary’s Life Teen is responding to the post-earthquake humanitarian situation in Haiti with pennies – buckets of them.
Last Sunday, the Catholic youth ministry program launched “Penny Wars,” in which members of each high school class will bring in pennies to fill up their Poland Springs-sized bucket. The goal is to get as many pennies in your bucket as possible. But silver coins and dollar bills take away the pennies – so if you put a dollar bill in another class’s bucket, that negates 100 of their pennies.
“So the more money you can bring in, the more money is raised,” said Jason Deramo, the youth minister of St. Mary’s Parish.
The idea is to beat each other and give the money to Haiti relief, said Lylah Fitzgerald, 18, a senior at Millis High School.
“If you make it a spirit of competition, I think people are more likely to do it,” she said. “And it makes it more fun, and it shows that giving isn’t always a burden – it can be a joy.”
Proceeds from the contest, which will be held throughout February, will go to Catholic Relief Services, and to a plane ticket for a Haitian-American woman whose brother died in the disaster.
“We had a woman from our parish who lost her brother in the earthquake come and speak to the kids on what that was like, to kind of put a face to the tragedy,” Deramo said of the “Life Night on Haiti” they held after Mass on Sunday, Jan. 24.
She told the teens about how she lost her brother, how that is affecting her and her family, and about conditions in Haiti, Deramo said.
“You hear so many people talking about it, but then you get a full-on story from somebody who is local, and it makes an impact on you,” said Vittoria Spada, 15, a sophomore at Fontbonne Academy in Milton. “You can really tell how much she is hurting, and you can tell her kids are hurting too.”
Fitzgerald felt moved and touched by the woman’s words. “I feel like one person’s story means more than all the numbers,” Fitzgerald said, adding that it shows how the earthquake “affects people right in the town where most of us live, right there in Dedham.”
A leader of the Dedham Temple Haitian Seventh-Day Adventist Church also spoke that night. As they talked about how to make it more than a one-time event, the teens came up with “Penny Wars,” Deramo said.
Their Haitian response has also included fasting from their usual “Pizza & Prayer” on Monday night, Jan. 25 and donating that money, and more fasting, prayers and donations on Jan. 27.
In addition, St. Mary’s middle school program, the Edge, has begun collecting shoes to give to kids in Haiti through a program called Soles4Souls. Deramo estimated last Monday that they have collected 50 pairs of shoes so far. That effort, too, will last through the month.
Fitzgerald said that when the Haitian church leader spoke at the life night, he told mini-stories, or morals, involving three people who had bad stuff happen to them, though they did not know why. It turned out they all had another purpose, she said.
Making the connection to Haiti, Fitzgerald said people there might not know why some things are happening, “but you just have to trust that God is with you,” and pray about it and try to come out of the situation stronger.
“You have to let God into the situation,” she said, adding that if you do, “he’ll work in that situation, so it won’t hurt you, it will help you. Maybe not materially, but spiritually and as a person.”
Dedham Transcript staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
