PAULS VALLEY – Two years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, Mass was being held with no congregation and children were unable to return to their classrooms.
For Saint Catherine of Siena parishioner Amanda Cummings, the pandemic was an opportunity to do something more for her community. After learning about the grants for local projects offered by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Cummings began formulating an idea that would benefit both the students at the Pauls Valley junior high school and the broader community.
The schoolyard where the school’s 300 students spent a portion of their lunch had only a single picnic table to sit and it was in the sun. Cummings proposed applying for the CCHD grant to install hexagonal benches around tree trunks so more students could sit and have a place to visit with friends. She also imagined that teachers would be able to sit with students, many of whom qualify for free and reduced lunch, and better engage with them.
The benches also are used for schoolwork, using the free Wi-Fi from the library across the street. Students helped build the benches and included flowerbeds with donated materials from the community.
“Every day they will see the fruits of their work and feel pride and a sense of accomplishment as they gather in this lovely space right outside their classrooms,” Cummings said.
CCHD grants are not intended solely for charity efforts but to make real and lasting impacts on peoples’ lives. The CCHD grant was funded by gifts from across the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
To support such projects, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development collection is Nov. 20 and 21 in the archdiocese.
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It supports hundreds of projects across the country that promote human development in alignment with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Every year a quarter of the funds collected for the CCHD stays in the archdiocese. The generous donations of parishioners across the state allow CCHD to continue the work of the past 50 years.