Catholic schools often do service projects that raise money for important causes like food shelves or homeless shelters, but it’s not every day that a Catholic school sets out to help another Catholic school.
That’s what happened, though, during Lent this year.
For more than 20 years, the students at St. Mary’s School in Alexandria have been participating in a “Penny Challenge,” collecting money for a different local cause each year.
“It’s a part of our Lenten service that we do a community project,” said Troy Sladek, St. Mary’s principal. “The ultimate goal is to collect coins and we all know we have a targeted recipient of those funds. We never keep the money.”
This year’s recipient was Our Lady of Victory School in Fergus Falls. In January, the church there was damaged by fire and the school sustained significant smoke damage.
“The money received will be used to replace classroom/school items that needed to be thrown out due to smoke damage from the fire,” said Jake Raths, OLV principal. “I was very honored when Troy informed me that they would be donating the funds raised to our school.”
Sladek and Raths have gotten to know each other through virtual monthly diocesan principal’s meetings. When Raths told the story of the fire during a meeting, Sladek immediately knew what to do.
“With the fire and the smoke damage and how the school was displaced … It just hit me, we need to help Jake out,” Sladek said. “We need to help the teachers there and the kids out, because with classroom games, softcover books and all that kind of stuff, any smoke on it and it had to be gotten rid of.”
At the beginning of the “Penny Challenge,” each classroom is given a large plastic jug for collecting coins. They put the jars out on Fridays and the class that has the most value in pennies — the dollar amount of the pennies in the jar — is ultimately the winner. However, there’s a strategic twist.
“Any silver coins or dollar bills subtract from the number of pennies in the jar,” Sladek said.
Other classes can put silver or paper money into the jars, which makes it more competitive, he said.
“The older kids know this, and they start piling in fives and 10’s and 20’s, so what looks like a whole bunch of pennies actually counts for almost nothing,” Sladek said.
Hadley, a sixth-grade student at St. Mary’s, said it didn’t feel like a competition.
“It felt like we were helping our neighbors down the street as a community,” she said. “I felt a sense of pride in the fact that we do this, not for ourselves, but for others who would benefit from it.”
Bremer Bank in Alexandria counts the money at the end of Lent and provides a spreadsheet to Sladek, which he uses to determine the winning classroom. The bank is a big supporter of the “Penny Challenge,” even ordering more pennies to have on hand during the competition.
“During the penny challenge, pouring pennies into the bucket is one of the best feelings ever,” said Iver, also a 6th-grader.
The winning classroom — this year it was the fifth graders — gets a round of applause and the satisfaction of knowing they won.
“We don’t give out a prize,” said Sladek. “We high-five them and clap for them. We don’t do big parties for them because it’s about giving. We celebrate who the real winners are, it’s going to be the kids and the teachers at OLV who are getting over $3,000.”
The total amount raised this year was $3,294.08.
Sladek borrowed a giant cardboard award check, taped the school’s logo to it and headed up to Fergus Falls.
“The OLV students and staff were very excited and touched,” Raths said. “Troy showed up with a giant check and handed it to the sixth-grade students. They were more shocked by the size of the check than the total amount being donated.”
OLV classes were moved to another location while the school was being cleaned and Sladek said he encouraged Raths to use the money for anything his teachers might need as they settled back into their building.
“I want you to make sure your kids and your staff are good,” he told Raths. “I know they went through a lot.”
This is the most beautiful story I have read in a long time. Thank you for sharing about this incredible witness of community, charity and love in our diocese!