Heeding the call of Christ and taking to heart the meaning of Lent, about 240 youngsters at St. Mary’s Catholic School at Father Keane’s parish in Goldsboro, North Carolina decided to adopt The Least Among Us as their lenten service project.  The idea was really simple: just collect and donate the loose change lying around the house.  You know, the pennies lying in state with paper clips, tacks, and rubber bands in that old ash tray on the counter, the change you saw in the parking lot and shouldn’t have picked up but did anyway, those quarters that are too sticky to use in a vending machine after months at the bottoms of your cupholders.  It doesn’t seem like much, but it really adds up, in this case to over $550!

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI put it well: “In inviting us to consider almsgiving with a more profound gaze that transcends the purely material dimension, Scripture teaches us that there is more joy in giving than in receiving (Acts 20:35).  When we do things out of love, we express the truth of our being; indeed, we have been created not for ourselves but for God and our brothers and sisters (2 Cor 5:15).  Every time when, for love of God, we share our goods with our neighbor in need, we discover that the fullness of life comes from love and all is returned to us as a blessing in the form of peace, inner satisfaction and joy.”

The funds were used to purchase backpacks and school supplies for their brothers and sisters in El Salvador.