By Sister Mary Faustina, C.K.
(CRETE) - Ask any alumni from St. James School om Crete and they can probably tell you about their memories of the annual mission carnival.
This favorite school tradition takes place on All Hallow’s Eve (Oct. 31), the day before All Saint’s Day (Nov. 1). Each year the fifth and sixth grade students promote and run the mission carnival for the rest of the students. The week prior, students bring in money to donate to a charity.
This year, Mary’s Meals was chosen for the charity. Students attended a presentation by a regional spokesperson from Mary’s Meals and learned about the mission of Mary’s Meals to provide a daily meal for children in their place of education in countries where children would not otherwise go to school because of their need to find food.
Around 64 million of the world’s hungriest children do not attend school because they have to work or beg. It costs just $21 for Mary’s Meals to feed a child for a whole school year.
As of July, Mary’s Meals serves more than 2.2 million children in 20 countries every school day. They rely on the local community to get involved in the school feeding program. Mary’s Meals provides the food, local volunteers to cook and serve the meals and, whenever possible, the food is purchased from local farmers.
St. James students raised more than $2,150 at this year’s mission carnival, enough to feed as many children as enrolled at St. James for a whole school year. The main motivation was to help children who don’t have the basic necessity of food.
The mission carnival was a celebration of the students’ work. At the carnival booths they prayed for the children from their representative country, shared information, and provided a game and prizes for the younger students.
Learn more at https://www.marysmealsusa.org.
