Did you know that middle school students have some great ideas for fundraising for the Kurn Hattin Homes for Children? In December 2018, I held a Catholic Schools essay contest to make Vermont Catholic school students learn something about this great place for children in our own state. All of the Catholic Middle Schools (and two high schools) were invited to participate in a contest to describe the good work taking place at Kurn Hattin and to come up with some marketing and fundraising ideas that would appeal to their peers--and adults. And they did! There were about forty-eight participants and we had three place winners--each of whom received an Amazon gift card. We subsequently taped an interview with all of the participants which you can find on YouTube at The St. Nicholas Project (published January 31, 2019). Their ideas included some of the following: movie nights with admission and snacks, making and selling clothes which would be distributed to various stores throughout the state (proceeds of which would benefit Kurn Hattin), races, dances, a basketball game competition between the Catholic schools with admission costs benefiting Kurn Hattin--to name just a few. But I don't want to give away all of our good ideas!
I am very proud of our Catholic school students and their great ideas to help raise awareness of children and families in socio-economic crises in Vermont. But additionally, I think it's important to teach young people that philanthropy within the Catholic and nonprofit sector is a noble way of life. I hope that some day these students will develop their imaginations and great
ideas to help create a culture of philanthropy and good works--especially for the Kurn Hattin Homes!