Saint Patrick Catholic School:
Million Pennies for Haiti Project
Update by Sharon Neuhaus, January 17, 2010
As of the beginning of January, Saint Patrick Catholic School has now reached well over 600,000 pennies. These kids are incredible. Where else can you find children that ask for pennies for birthday presents and many even asked Santa for pennies for Christmas. After our Christmas break we dropped over 20,000 pennies that the kids collected during their break.
Of course after the earthquake earlier this week, the focus is on Haiti as a whole. This past Wednesday our Principal, Steve Hammond, called a special assembly to involve all of the students in the school. We began by praying for all the people of Haiti. He then asked that all teachers go back to their classroom, hold their morning meetings with their class, and ask the children for their ideas on how our entire school can help Haiti during this trying time.
In the afternoon a representative from each class (Kindergarten through 8th grade) met in the conference room, with notes in hand. The classes came up with some wonderful, thoughtful ideas. In the upcoming days there will be more meetings to put some ideas into motion. First and foremost, coming from a 5th grader, were the remarkable thoughts of prayer. He said “we need to keep the people of Haiti close to our hearts.” “We need to pray.”