I have my 6th graders make their own Rosaries every year. They love it because they get to make them their own - they select the colors & string them together. I make sure there aren't any 9- or 11-bead decades & then crimp them together. We open every class with the appropriate Scripture reading, then pray a decade of the Rosary (in Latin!), then I give a lesson about the reading & the Mystery of that day. I'm sure I could teach the entire class for the whole year exclusively by this method, because the Blessed Mother is the best teacher of all.
This year I decided to expand the program a bit. After making their own Rosaries, the kids always want to make more for their family & friends. I decided we would try to make a bunch extra & have a Rosary sale after Mass for a few weekends during Lent to raise money for charity. We made about 25, but I wasn't too sure how well this would be recieved. We sold out the first weekend, & I had to dedicate a whole next class to just working on Rosaries! I made a few myself to throw in the pile, & we had about 20 for the next weekend. We sold all of those, too.
When the dust had cleared, we raised $718!!! We donated $200 to the local Good Samaritan Center. I dropped by to give the donation & they were astounded at the kids' generosity. The director told me about what they do there, & showed me the food pantries. One of the managers there told me they had just come across a few cases of peanut butter for 15 cents a pound (a big jar of Jif Crunchy retails for nearly $7!), so our $200 could buy over 1,300 lb. of food. I shared this with the kids, but I'm not sure they completely understood how great this was.
We donated $100 to Love INC (in the name of Christ), with whom some of our parishoners are deeply involved. We gave $100 to the NPH (Nuestros Piquenos Hermanos - "our little brothers & sisters") orphanage in El Salvador that our parish supports. We also plan to give $200 to local pregnancy help centers. Since this was the kids' project, I asked what other causes they would like to donate to, & one of the kids asked about helping animals, so I will check into that - perhaps the local shelter or perhaps something like Horse Haven. We will split the remainder between the diocesan seminarians & the Nashville Domincan Sisters. As you can see, our biggest problem is deciding what to do with the funds, Deo gratias!
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P.S.: There are still a few Rosaries left - ones the kids started, but didn't get finished in time for the sale (plus I ran out of crimps!). If you are interested, please contact Lupe in the St. Thomas church office at (865) 986-9885. Thanks!
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