It Takes a Parish to Build a Well!

In Lent 2009, St. Cecilia Social Justice Minister, Lettie Gillespie, introduced the idea of providing fresh water for people in Africa. The parish administrator, Ed Walsh, built a “Wishing Well” that

would be on display in the Church. Educational information about Drop In the Bucket was put in the Sunday bulletin and on their website. Since the parish has 4000 registered families, each family was asked to donate one dollar. The parish community was very generous…many one dollar bills as well as checks were placed in the Wishing Well. The children attending the Parish School incorporated the Wishing Well into their 4th Grade play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs directed by Diane Andrews. They raised awareness about the water problem and collected over $520 for Drop in the Bucket.

DECATS, a summer educational program for Catholic school children, learned that many of the African women have to walk miles to get water. To raise awareness and to raise money for the Well, these students and their Mentor, Mary Solomon (who also teaches at St. Cecilia Catholic School) sponsored a walkathon that collected $713.00 for the well.

The parish held a NAME THAT WELL contest. Parish members were asked to put their thinking caps on, be creative and NAME THAT WELL. Many unique names were suggested. The winner name was selected by the Parish Staff and announced at all of our Sunday Liturgies. The name selected was Living Waters.

Everyone felt that project was a great educational experience for the entire parish…young and old alike! Even though we are in a challenging economic time period, these parish members continue to reach out to those in need …in our neighborhoods and in Uganda. It truly does take a Parish to build a Well…one dollar at a time! Total raised = $7,161.45!

Some of this money will be used to construct a well in the Mubende district of Uganda and the remainder is being put towards a large full system installation that we are doing at Gulu High School in Gulu, Uganda. Thank you all so much for your generosity and hard work.

No related posts.