Pennies for Papoli

Pennies for Papoli is a VPI initiative to engage children to help other children.

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The 6th Grade Class of St. Mary’s Episcopal Day School in Tampa, Florida did just that and created a video to teach other schools how they did it.  

Every grade level at St. Mary’s Episcopal Day School in Tampa has an annual community service project. For their community service project this year, Mrs. Cardenas’s and Mrs. Boza’s sixth grade homeroom classes initiated the Pennies for Papoli Drive at St. Mary’s. Papoli is a village in Uganda, Africa. The pennies and other money raised by the sixth graders were donated to Village Partners International (VPI), a non-profit organization. VPI will use the entire donation to help meet the needs of the Pediatric Care Center, which was established by VPI. The Care Center provides a variety of nutrition, medical, educational services as well as emotional support for the children in the area. There are over 2,000 children in the Papoli area that have AIDS or are HIV positive. Many children are orphans, raising younger children because diseases have killed their parents. The purpose of the drive is to provide a way for children to become involved in helping other children while educating a wider community about the needs of our brothers and sisters in other places of the world.

In a school wide assembly, the sixth graders educated the St. Mary’s student body on the Pennies for Papoli Drive. They made containers to collect the pennies for classes and for individuals. Sixth graders lobbied the Student Council to suggest that the mite box collection go toward the Pennies for Papoli Drive. Mite boxes are little boxes used to collect change during the season of lent, which is between Ash Wednesday and Easter. The Student Council voted to make the suggestion, and Father Kezar accepted their request, so the drive coincided with lent. The drive earned over $1,200. The sixth grade class is helping to make the world a healthier and more caring place.

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