Sheila Sims Iding
Today was a busy day in Care Corner. Well…aren’t they all? But on Thursday’s we have morning groups and afternoon groups. 4 lessons in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. Lots of learning in those two hours…and that is just two hours of the day. So busy, busy, busy…were we today in Care Corner.
Besides all the lessons, we had a special mission today. It’s the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul. It’s the first day we take the money from our Poor Bank in Care Corner to church to put in the St. Vincent de Paul Money Boxes. I knew they were looking forward to it, but what I didn’t know is the quiet excitement it would create.
The excitement started with two students putting money in the poor bank early this morning like they do many mornings. The excitement came when it was getting so full, it was hard to get the money in the bank. They were thrilled that our bank was so full this month.
It was near the end of the morning right after our morning groups and that hour of lesson, lesson, lesson, lesson when a little girl said “I’m excited about taking our money to church today.”. Really? It’s almost time for recess. It’s almost time for lunch. Her new book order came in. Her birthday is a few days away. And she is not excited about recess or lunch or that party she is having soon. The excitement that was foremost in her mind was taking the money to the poor box at church. Wow!
The excitement grew as during afternoon groups we got to empty our poor bank for the first time this year. There was so much money we had to empty it into a bowl and the excited voices grew as the bowl was almost overflowing. They couldn’t believe all the money we had collected for the poor.
Then as we walked past the office, Mr. Grenier asked if he could add to our collection. He had some coins and a dollar bill he had collected for the poor bank and he added it right there in the hallway. They were excited that Mr. Grenier made a donation too…and excited about that dollar bill. Dollar bills created lots of excitement for first graders.
Then came the long walk to church with little hands clenching coins to put in the poor box. So carefully they walked. So carefully they clenched. So carefully they took their mission to heart. One by one they stepped to the poor box to place our many coins there. One by one you could see their sense of pride in doing God’s work.. One by one they sat in the prayer circle to pray for our gift for those in need.
Once we were all in our prayer circle I thanked them for their gift of caring for those in need. I thanked them for honoring St. Vincent de Paul on his feast day. I told them that when Jesus went back to heaven somebody had to do his work on earth. Somebody had to care for others. Somebody had to help those in need. Today they were the “somebody”.
Then we folded our hands and prayed the song “Blest Are We…Holy Children of Light are we. Blest are we…we’re the chosen people of God. Blest are we…God has plans for you and me. Blest are we…we are the children of God.”
As we lined up to leave the church a Care Corner Kid said “I thought I was going to cry.” It is pretty moving to help others. It may seem like just a few coins…but to them it was more. To them it was doing God’s work in a special way. To them it was being somebody. And I like to think as we left that church that somebody somewhere was smiling. Maybe it is saint teacher in China; maybe it is a saint in heaven celebrating his feast day; maybe it is Jesus who asks as all to be somebody…and maybe it’s a poor kid who will get to have breakfast next week…all because of “somebody”.