| Justice & Peace Group Lent Event |
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Lent Event The Talent Trek started last November, when schools were invited to sign up for a unique project. Based on the biblical parable of the talents, the Justice and Peace Group distributed various amounts of cash to students (50, 100, or 150 euro), and "commissioned" them to multiply the amount in aid of their chosen charities. The charities benefiting are wide-ranging: Lucan Disability Action, Self-help Africa, Nightlife for Homeless Teenagers, Haiti, etc. A great variety of fund-raising activities included a particularly tasty one, a chocolate fountain with all kinds of fruit for dunking, now there's an idea!
An exhibition showing how they used their "talents" not merely the cash, but more important their initiative and commitment, was on display in the Parish Centre on Sunday morning the 7th March; the students identified themselves and their charities at the 11am Mass. It was not a competition, just an opportunity to let our community see a little of what is being done in the schools to help others, and maybe challenge each of us to ask ourselves "How do I use my talents". The Talent Trek came to a climax on Sunday 7th March when the schools involved assembled to give an account of how, and for whom, they used the "talents" they had been given in aid of their chosen charities. The final figures are not yet available, as some of the fund-raising events have yet to take place, but judging by the "take" so far, the talents have been very well used. It's great to see the enthusiasm & commitment of these young people. The Lent Event 2010 came to a finale with the thrilling performance of the Armed Man by the St. Mary's Chorale. The horror and futility of war and the eternal search for peace was powerfully presented to a packed audience in the church, all who heard it The lectures on topical issues by Gina Menzies and Frs. McDonagh and Flannery will also be remembered for addressing current problems and considering where we go from here; in this regard the Open Forum on Monday 28th was an important opportunity to continue the discussion, and have some input into possible solutions. Meantime the schools involved in the Talent Trek are counting their "take" for the charities they chose; watch out for King's Hospital sleep-out and fast in aid of Fr. Peter McVerry's Trust on Fri. 16th April. The Talent Trek in St. Joseph’s
Having got the seed capital from the Justice and Peace Group, we (Ms. Byrne's 4A4 Religion class) brainstormed fundraising ideas to increase it. We decided on the chocolate fountain because the novelty of it would encourage people to try it out; we ran it for 3 days before Lent. We used the seed capital to supplement the donations of goods from various companies. Fyffes donated pineapples, Keelings gave strawberries, Superquinn supplied chocolate & marshmallows, & both Tesco & Supervalu donated marshmallows. This helped us enormously, & we spent our seed money on more fruit, chocolate, biscuits, sprinkles & smarties. The operation went smoothly with a rota for the different jobs involved, preparing the dunks, selling the chocolate skewers & cleaning up. All the planning & work paid off, we multiplied our seed capital by 5, & were able to give a good donation to our chosen charity, Nightlight for Homeless Teenagers.
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A broad spread of schools participated, from Swords (Loreto College), Celbridge (St. Wolstan's), Palmerstown (King's Hospital), and from Lucan - the Community College, St. Joseph's, Colaiste Phadraig, Scoil Mhuire (3 entries from the 3 sixth classes) and the Boys national School.
will remember it for a long time.