Morrissey Hall – St. Joseph Hill Secondary School, Kyarusozi, Uganda
Morrissey Manor—living in Pangborn Hall for the academic year while the beloved Manor is being renovated—has established a charitable relationship with the St. Joe Hill School in Uganda.
Throughout the semester, a few fundraisers were held to raise money and spread awareness for the mission.
During the 2018 NFL season, 20 Manorites spent $5 to compete in an NFL Survivor Pool, a double-elimination tournament where each participant selects one team each week to win its game. The last man standing wins! Throughout the month of November, residents paid $3 to take part in “No-Shave November,” with awards given out for Best Overall Facial Hair, Best Beard, Best Sideburns, and Worst Facial Hair.
Perhaps the most famous method of fundraising in Morrissey comes with its weekly food sales at Yaz’s (named after MLB hall of famer Carl Yastrzemski). Pork sliders and milkshakes are just two of the delicious and inexpensive snacks which students can purchase Sunday—Thursday nights.
As Morrissey shifts its focus towards the spring semester, it will continue to look for ways to contribute to St. Joe Hill—its new partner in charity.
Duncan Hall – St. Joseph Hill Secondary School, Kyarusozi, Uganda
Duncan Hall has been supporting the work of the Holy Cross Missions since its establishment in 2008. Their service to the Holy Cross Missions includes visiting the Holy Cross House to speak with retired Holy Cross Priests who have served in the Missions,celebrating a Ugandan Mass in the dorm, and collecting monetarydonations to support the Missions. Duncan Hall’s Sunday Mass Collection benefits the Holy Cross Missions. In 2018, Duncan Hall directed its financial contributions to sponsor St. Joseph Hill School in Uganda. The funds help St. Joseph Hill improve their dormitory conditions and purchase various items to improve the quality of student life. The Hall is very committed to educating their community about the Missions and the HCMC. They even have a hallway on the main floor of Duncan reserved for displaying the Window to the World of Holy Cross posters, PEACE posters, and pictures from St. Joseph Hill School. Way to go, Duncan Hall!
Welsh Family Hall – St. Marianne Cope Young Women’s Education Project
For the second year, Welsh Family Hall has partnered with the HCMC to learn more about and support the work of the St. Marianne Cope Young Women’s Education Project ran by Fr. Frank Quinlivan, C.S.C., in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Last Spring, the community raised money for this project which empowers young women by assisting them in pursuing higher education by selling delicious cookies within their hall and around campus. This semester, the women have been offering educating to their hall community by sharing about this mission during Move-In Weekend and by hosting Fr. Mike DeLaney, C.S.C, at one of their weekly Hall Council meetings; during his visit, Fr. Mike shared about the program, the women who gaining so much from this program, and the program’s namesake – St. Marianne Cope. Additionally, the women of Welsh Family will be coming in the coming semester with some of the women in the program through email and Facebook, they are going to become pen pals. It is exciting to see young women leaders supporting each other and accompanying one another through their education so they can all make a difference in this world.
Howard Hall – Haiti Bathroom Clean Water Project
Totter for Water is an annual fundraiser run by Howard Hall, a women’s dorm at Notre Dame. The aim of this event is to raise money for clean water initiatives. This year, Howard Hall and the Holy Cross Mission Center partnered to raise money for the Clean Water and Bathroom Project at a Holy Cross school in Plaisance, Haiti.
Totter for Water involves members of Howard Hall riding a large teeter totter outside for 24 hours (in shifts!). This year’s event was held on September 27-28th. The hall encouraged everyone to come out, ride the totter, and donate to the cause.
The Clean Water and Bathroom Project, a large and essential project, will cost a little less than $70,000 to complete. The project will provide clean water access and sanitation – toilets, sinks and showers. This clean water and bathroom project will provide sanitation to many students in the school who do not have access to it otherwise, even in their own homes. One of the biggest problems they face is the removal of waste. Cases of cholera have broken out, which they believe to be caused by lack of sanitation at the school. Thus, this is a much needed project at this school in Haiti.
Last year, the women of Howard Hall raised a total of $5,200, and this year tripled that amount with the help of two separate $5,000 matching grants from two very generous donors. The total raised so far from the event and other Hall fundraisers, such as selling succulents, tatter tots, and hosting a fundraiser night at Blaze Pizza, totals over $15,000! The women of Howard Hall were committed to this cause and made this the most successful Totter for Water yet. We appreciate all the support of Howard Hall and the generous donors who gave so selflessly for this essential project!
Baraka Bouts – Dining Hall Construction at – St. Joseph Hill Secondary School, Kyarusozi, Uganda
Founded in 1997, the Women’s Boxing Club known as Baraka Bouts is the largest all-female club at the University of Notre Dame. From September to November, hundreds of women are given the opportunity to participate in service and train as boxers. The Baraka Bouts is a club committed to service and education. Since 2002, participants have focused their efforts outside of the ring towards raising money for the Holy Cross Missions in East Africa. Through ticket sales, advertisements and general donations, the women have supported Holy Cross Lake View Secondary School in Jinja, Uganda and St. Joseph Hill Secondary School in Kyarusozi, Uganda.
This year the Baraka Bouts partnered again with the HCMC to fundraise money to assist in the building of a Dining Hall at St. Joseph Hill Secondary School. Currently, students eat in an outdoor grassy area where their mealtimes are often interrupted by rainfall, causing their food and their clothing to become wet. The club aimed to financially support the creation of a sheltered dining area for these students so they can eat their meals in comfort. Such a project would ensure that the students at St. Joseph Hill School have a clean, dry, and safe place to eat each and every day!
Through their training and dedication to fundraising through various avenues, the club raised over $72,000 with support of over 1100 donors. The Baraka Bouts generously received a matching grant for a third year by the Wolohan Family Foundation. We are grateful to the Baraka Bouts, the many individual donors, and the Wolohan Family Foundation for their support and dedication to serving the students of Holy Cross in Uganda.
Folk Choir – District of East Africa
25thAnnual Concert for the Missions
The Notre Dame Folk Choir hosted the 25thAnnual Concert for the Missions entitled “Catch the Spirit” on Friday, November 10 in the Basilica to benefit the Holy Cross Missions in the District of East Africa.
The choir spent the majority of the Fall Semester preparing music, which was a wide variety of African American sacred music including, line songs, spirituals and jazz pieces from the 20thcentury and contemporary music.
Fr. Mike DeLaney, C.S.C., HCMC Director, welcomed the audience to the concert and ND Senior Maureen Schweninger shared about the mission of the HCMC and her experience of the international Holy Cross mission during her visits to missions in Uganda. Schweninger shared that “witnessing the Missions has been a real formation in Christian solidarity” for her and she wished she “could take each of you to encounter just one of the many stories of hope with Holy Cross abroad!”
With the conclusion of the Concert preparation, the Folk Choir will begin their preparation for their journey to East Africa this summer for their annual tour. As part of their preparation, choir members are taking a one-credit class which will feature a new speaker weekly so students learn about the history and culture of the countries they will be visiting, which include Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. This tour will be different from past tours, as it will be intentionally structured more like a pilgrimage and be less about giving concerts; students will be immersing themselves in the Holy Cross communities and various cultures. While abroad, the choir plans on sharing some of their musical repertoire, but more importantly they will be learning new music from their Holy Cross brothers and sisters to bring back the beauty of these communities to the Notre Dame campus. The choir plans to share the music they learn and the encounters they have at the 2019 Concert for the Missions.
