I don’t know how many of our readers are in or near Baltimore, but I thought this was such a touching news story that I would share it with everyone.
As part of a private Catholic school, the students at St. Agnes School in Catonsville, MD have to wear a uniform to school every day. Every so often, they have a special “dress down” fundraiser where the students can pay $1 to wear regular clothes. However, for this January 15th’s dress down day, the students were told the monies would be going to Haiti relief and they didn’t have a minimum donation amount. The administrative assistant at the school, Diana Kreft, was amazed when she started counting the money and found the total for the 293 students was $2,936. For those like me that are bad with math, that is an average of $10 per student.
John O’Donnell, a St. Agnes parishioner, knew all too well how devastating this earthquake must have been to Haiti. He traveled there as part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore Haiti Outreach Program in 2001. O’Donnell visited Father Vitesse of the St. Peter and St. Paul parish and since then, St. Agnes has been contributing financial aid to the parishes. In 2009, Father Vitesse visited St. Agnes and the children of the school presented him with a check for $7,000, which they had raised during a walk-a-thon.
Other schools in the Catonsville, MD area are also raising money for Haiti. Mount St. Joseph High School is run by the Xaverian Brothers, a congregation of lay religious for the education of the young that also has a mission in Haiti. On January 15th, the all-boys school held a prayer vigil and also hosted a dress down day. Like St. Agnes, they normally charge their 1,000 students $1. The administrators were shocked when they learned the dress down day brought in $13,000.
Students all over that area are raising money for Haiti. Mount de Sales Academy, an all-girls school, raised $1,127 on its dress down day. Lamb of God School, with only 152 students, raised $415 as well. Seton Keough High School has a $2 dress down day planned and Our Lady of Victory will also plan a dress down day to raise money.
While most of these are not staggering amounts, every little bit helps in the relief effort and what it is teaching the students is priceless.
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More Updates on Relief for Haiti
Celebs Offer Haiti Relief