The Archdiocese of Baltimore Missions Office partners with the Mortel Foundation to serve and educate the poor in Haiti. Through this partnership, the Mortel Foundation operates schools in Saint Marc, Haiti with a focus on forming the entire person- not just their intellect.One of the foundational traits the Foundation tries to instill in the students in Haiti is compassion for others. At the start of every Lent, students at Les Bons Samaritains (LBS) primary school are encouraged to share what little money they have to help support the prisoners at the local Saint Marc prison.
This year, throughout Lent, teachers motivated their students to donate with the full support of their families. Every Monday, a teacher presented a progress report on how much money had been collected during the previous week.
With the money gathered from the students, a committee of teachers purchased basic hygiene items, at the suggestion of the prison officer, to offer to the 600 inmates. The principal, a committee of teachers, and some of the sixth grade students gathered to help pack a kit for each prisoner that included items such as toothpaste, soap, toilet paper and detergent.
The kits were taken to the prison on Wednesday, April 17. Though the students were not allowed inside the prison, the LBS administrator and some teachers were able to greet the prisoners and offer them words of comfort. The prisoners expressed their gratitude to the school and the children and asked God to bless them for their generosity.
We are in awe of these students and their willingness to give from their own poverty and show compassion to the less fortunate.
Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’
Matthew 25:34-36
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