You can help start a school

Sunday, April 18, 2004

well, after much consideration and prayer i have decided to open the flood gates and truly embrace the missionary life. it was bound to happen sooner or later:

the local school system stinks. the kids attend, on average, about 3.5 half-days a week and graduate with a seriously suspect knowledge of basics, even spelling. so, we have decided to open a school. that's correct, the only Catholic school within 45 miles (but about 1.5 hours by truck). however, we need to raise some funds in order to get things started. for the low price of $50,000 american dollars we can build a school, furnish it, and establish a healthy scholarship program to teach the faith to the youngsters here in banica, pedro santana, and sabana cruz.

we will charge the kids about 200 pesos a month to attend (the price of a 1.5 chickens or 5 beers), but that will stretch some family's budgets, therefore the scholarship program - this way the school will be self-sufficient, at least in economic theory...the plan is to begin with grades 1-4 and add a grade every year. we have everything in place: books, director, teachers, chalkboards, and we just need the rest of the money.

due to God's good grace, we have already raised $33,000, but seem to be stuck on that number. therefore, i make this plea to the blog readers: we need $17,000 and we need it pretty quickly if we want to begin in september. i personally guarantee that 100% of all donations will go to the construction of the school. as usual, everything is tax-deductible. so start banging on doors and hitting the phones...

any and all checks should be made payable to the diocese of arlington and sent to:

fr daniel maher
200 north glebe road
suite 914
arlington, va 22203

make sure and add a cover letter stating that the money is for the school in banica.

that's it for now. we trust God will provide from here on out...
posted at 3:38 PM