Picking up pennies with mittens

Posted by Mary

I went to a program to celebrate 40 years of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  I had been aware of the CCHD through the annual collection at Mass, but I really did not know much about it.  I learned about CCHD’s work to fund low-income empowerment projects and to educate Catholics about the root causes of poverty in the United States, all within the context of the Catholic social teaching.  I was inspired by personal stories of Catholic community organizers ages 25-70.

So where do the pennies and mittens come in?! 

One of the CCHD interns, a very gifted seminarian named Desmond Drummer, helps students understand the inequality of poverty by challenging the students to pick up 100 pennies from the floor.  Some students use their bare hands (easy!), a few use spoons (ok, not so easy) and most wear mittens (impossible!)  Desmond helps the children understand how responding in faith to social injustice is part of our call as followers of Christ.


Photo credit:  Steven dePolo