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| Blessed Sacrament School students in Madison running a lap in the recent Hunger March are, from left: Tahlia W., 3K, and cousins Aiden, grade four, and Jayden, grade seven, along with friend Katie W. (Contributed photo) |
MADISON — Brothers and sisters, parents and children, Big Buddies and Little Buddies — they all raised money for the hungry at Madison’s Blessed Sacrament School recently.
Students marched, jogged, and flat-out ran to raise money for various charitable causes related to hunger.
Annual Hunger March
Last year, the annual Hunger March raised more than $12,000 that was distributed to local, regional, and international organizations.
“The Hunger March was started in the 1970s,” said Mrs. Megan Richards, coordinator. “Sr. Marie Cagnoni, OP, who taught in our Primary Unit (5K to grade three), wanted our students to know that while they were little, their impact in helping others could be great.”
The Hunger March is now school-wide, and the youngest (age three) to the oldest (eighth grade) collect pledges to donate to hunger-related charities.
“This year,” Richards reported, “with just half of our pledges turned in, we’re over $6,000, so I think we’ll meet or exceed last year’s total.”
Older students run or walk for an hour, but the youngest students march just once around the block, accompanied by their Big Buddies from the Middle School. Many are siblings, which makes it even more special.
How funds are distributed
Later this fall, the Social Justice Committee, chaired by parent Rebecca Rapp, will bring in representatives from a number of local charities to speak to the students and to let them know how their efforts make a difference.
Students vote on which charities to support (their votes influence the amount of the donation, although all the charities invited in receive support).
Last year, the Hunger March funded local agencies, including St. Vincent DePaul Society food pantry, Luke House Community Meal Program, Porchlight, and Our Lady of Hope Clinic.
Other organizations, from further away, also receive money annually, including the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa for their hunger-related work, and Sr. Stella Storch, OP, who coordinates U.S. fundraising for an organization called Empowering Women’s Future: AIDS Orphan Sewing Project, which teaches girls in Tanzania to sew and provides them with an alternative to human trafficking to feed themselves and their families.