By the Development and Peace Committee, St. Mary Magdalene Parish, N.B.
St. Dunstan’s Church in Fredericton, part of the St. Mary Magdalene parish in the Diocese of Saint John, N.B., was the site of a very successful fundraiser organized by children on the fourth Sunday of Advent.
Alfred, a young St. Dunstan’s Parishioner, aged just 13 years, had wanted to do something to help the less fortunate or people in need during the Advent season. He said, “When I started, I wanted to do a humanitarian club at school, but they said I could not. I started thinking about it more after All Saints’ Day, when we went to eat at a soup kitchen. I wanted to make more people aware.”
Following through on his inspiration, Alfred and some other children he knew worked together to put on a bake sale fundraiser after the two masses on Advent Sunday, December 18, 2022.
From the inspiration of the idea to promoting the fundraiser through the parish bulletin; inviting children to contribute baked goods; creating posters; making announcements at masses; and all the way through to the preparation and cooking; looking after the bake sale tables; and collecting the sales and donations, this was the initiative and teamwork of children ranging in age from two to 13 years!
“I liked when everyone helped out with it; I liked seeing everyone getting involved in it,” Alfred said happily.
The parish is rightly very proud of them, deeply moved by their passionate spirit, and thankful to have such amazing and generous young people within its community. To Alfred, who initiated the idea, and all the beautiful children who worked so hard to make this happen, parish Development and Peace committee chair Chris McAloon said, “We give you our heart’s deepest and sincerest gratitude, and say a huge THANK YOU!! What inspiring role models you all are! We are so truly blessed to have all of you, and any other team members who contributed (including maybe an adult or two 😊) support our community outreach in this way.”
Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada was chosen by the children to donate receive the $1,013 raised by their bake sale. The proceeds will be submitted through the diocese.
McAloon added, “We are truly humbled and honored that these simply amazing and talented children came together in this way, worked so hard as a team in a very busy month, and then chose Development and Peace as the recipient of the bake sale’s proceeds. What a tremendous gift and blessing these children are! We assure them that these funds will go a long way to helping others in need, especially our sisters and brothers in the Global South.”
For Alfred, the experience has been very satisfying. “It felt like I had actually done something, he said, adding, “I liked doing it and I would probably want to do it again!”
Once again, the committee extends its loving appreciation to the children who totally made this happen. Thanks to Alfred, Harriet, Theo, Joaquin, Daniel, Ellie and Pascale, and to Mary McMahon, one of our adult members who also contributed some baked goods.
