|
|
|
 |
Students Celebrate Mission Awareness Week More than 1,000 students took the morning off from their Los Angeles Catholic elementary schools on Oct. 25 to be at a Mass where they were honored for their mission work with the Holy Childhood Association (HCA). Held at St. Vincent Church in Los Angeles, the Mass was a celebration of Mission Awareness week. Father David John Ayotte, director of the archdiocesan Mission Office, presided with missionary priests from the archdiocese and Vincentian Father Antonio Ruiz, the host pastor, concelebrating. "The idea for the Mass came from Cardinal Roger Mahony," Father Ayotte told The Tidings. "The cardinal wanted to gather all the kids together and just have a celebration for them…and just appreciate what the kids were doing [with HCA]." The Mass highlight was a multi-media presentation, which Father Ayotte introduced by saying, "Many of you are going to see your faces up on the screen…because you have been Good Samaritans," citing the day's Gospel reading. "You have been persons reaching out to people across the world, caring." The presentation showed photos of the students and of the other children around the world who have benefited from the students' fundraising efforts for HCA. Some of the benefit activities shown were dance-a-thons, mini Olympics, hobby horse races, bake sales, even one wherein students lined up quarters for a quarter of a mile. Money raised from these events contributed to purchasing food and medical supplies for children in impoverished countries, like Sudan. The funds were also used for projects such as Hope House, which built orphanages for Nigerian kids who have AIDS or HIV or whose parents died of AIDS, and shelters for refugee children in Angola. "You have touched the lives of thousands of people around the world by the things you have done," Father Ayotte told the students afterwards. "Sometimes, what happens in the world around is we get a little frustrated and say, 'I can't make a difference.' That's a lie." To further drive home the point, he asked them what they did after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. One student said her class made cards and sent them to the victims' families. One student said he prayed for all those affected. All those things, Father Ayotte said, made a difference in other people's lives and "show how we love Christ." Ria Diaz-De Sato, an eighth grader from Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary School in Pasadena, told The Tidings after the Mass that the power point presentation "really touched my heart because we got to see the people we were helping, even though we're so far away." Chris Pelch, another eighth grader from the same school, recalled one of the HCA activities he did called "quarter folder," wherein he collected quarters. Seeing how those quarters were used to buy rice for impoverished children, he said, "I thought it was really kind of touching that all sorts of schools could affect thousands of people by just putting in extra change and doing fundraisers." In fact, said Father Ayotte, the children in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have been the leading fundraisers in the United States for HCA, several years in a row. "They raise over a quarter of a million dollars each year. Just kids collecting their quarters and dimes and nickels," he said. Father Ayotte said that from his vantage point, he saw how, during the presentation, students "literally saw on the screen that they're changing the world. That's what I enjoyed so much, seeing the kids get so excited about what they can do." The Oct. 25 event was also an opportunity for HCA to launch a special Advent collection for another Hope House project the students can do. This time, the goal is to build housing for Salvadoran children who were left homeless by the earthquakes earlier this year. Seventh-grader Scott Hellesen, from St. Bruno Elementary School in Whittier, said he feels good taking on projects for HCA like Hope House 2001 because "I know I'm helping people in the world who need help." He added he doesn't think he's too young to do mission work because "all ages can help. Younger and older, we all help." |
||
|
|
||||
