TEDDY BEARS FOR KIDS IN HAITI
CLEAN WATER FOR KIDS IN AFRICA
FOCUS 11 – MIDDLE SCHOOL RETREAT
Kids make a Difference
By Maggie Eilermann
TEDDY BEARS FOR KIDS IN HAITI
A few days after the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, Blare Gooch saw a little boy crying in a pile of rubble on a newscast. This brought him to tears. The next day, Blare remembered his teddy bear that always comforted him, and thought,“ We could start a drive for Haiti.”
Blare announced his plan at school and asked other kids to donate bears. A local TV station, a radio station, and Facebook heard and other schools joined in. As a result, Blare’ s Bears for Haiti donated 25,000 teddy bears to Haiti and about 22,000 more to nonprofits. Blare progressed to collecting toys and school supplies, too.“ It doesn’ t really matter how small or old you are,” says Blare.“ If you’ re young and think you can’ t make a big difference in the world, well, you actually can.”
CLEAN WATER FOR KIDS IN AFRICA
By Franny Carapella
In 1998, six-year-old Ryan Hreljac’ s teacher told his class about kids in Africa who have to walk five miles to get clean water. He was told that many people die because of this. So Ryan decided to help. He asked his parents for more chores to raise money for kids in Africa who don’ t have clean water. Finally, he came up with $ 70, but then found he needed $ 2,000 to drill a well in another country, so Ryan got back to work. Eventually, made $ 2,000 from fundraisers and chores. Ryan sent the money to‘’ WaterCan,’’ and a water hole was put next to a school in northern Uganda in 1999. Since that one hole was dug, other funds have given $ 800,000 to make more wells. In the past 18 months, Ryan has traveled across Canada, Australia, South Africa, United States, China and many other countries to motivate other people to do what he did. Ryan Hreljac has met famous people and he has even been blessed by the Pope.
By St. A Today Staff
FOCUS 11 – MIDDLE SCHOOL RETREAT
St. Austin fifth and sixth grade students attended a retreat sponsored by the Archdiocese of St. Louis and spent the day nurturing their personal holiness. Students from Catholic schools all around the diocese attend this 3-day event, filled with a variety of activities including praise and worship songs, videos, and time for boys and girls to break out in their own sessions. Incredible talks given by Father Chris Martin and Father Brian Fallon of the Vocations Office, Father Robert from the Jesuits, Sister Mary Michael of the Carmelites, and others telling about vocations and their own road to religious life. Studies have shown that kids often consider the possibility of a religious vocation in middle school, and with this idea, Focus 11 was born. The highlights of the day were Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the morning, and Holy Mass in the afternoon. Everyone from St. Austin who attended came back on fire with their faith!