St. Mary students share a small meal to remember those who are
hungry
Staff Report
Gilroy – On Ash Wednesday, St. Mary School junior high school students traded their usual brown bag lunch for a simple meal of beans of rice, to experience what it feels like to live with limited resources.
Students were asked to bring the money they would have spent to buy lunch that day and donate it to St. Mary’s Lenten Mission Project. The theme of the project is “Live Simply, That Others May Simply Live.”
When the students arrived at school last Wednesday, they were each handed a slip of paper with a fact about Third World poverty. During the day the students shared their fact with two other classmates, so that by the end of the meal, every junior high student had expanded his or her knowledge of poverty.
During the meal students watched a presentation that juxtaposed their privileged life in the United States with the existence of children their age in developing countries.
As a follow-up activity, teachers asked students to write an essay, relating their experience to love of the poor, Lenten sacrifice and the awareness of other’s needs. After watching a slide show about Third World poverty, Lucas Wafelbakker said, “I don’t think we care enough about the poor.
“With countries as rich and powerful as the U.S., Italy, France and others can’t we and those countries make a change?” asked the seventh-grader, according to the press released provided by St. Mary.
And Lindsay Meazell said the day of sacrifice made her feel selfish.
“I care so much about getting an iPod and going to the movies that I get lost and hung-up on stupid things while there are people who have nothing,” said the eighth-grader. “How ridiculous. We obsess on having the latest things when there are others out there dying.”
Many students were shocked at the statistics on Third World poverty, according to St. Mary School. Some were completely unaware that people actually live without proper sanitation, portable drinking water and don’t have access to education.
Junior high religion teachers Stacy Huddleston and Cecile Mantecon hope that this activity brought awareness to the plight of those living in poverty and taught the students how to live-out the teachings of the Catholic Church.
