Each year, Arizona Catholic Schools students partner with Catholic Charities to learn about the world around them and make a positive impact on the less fortunate through Miracle Projects. Students choose a cause that is personally meaningful to them, create an item to sell at a marketplace, then use those funds to donate to the cause or purchase essential items for Catholic Charities programs.
Dulce Valdez, Catholic Charities Parish and Diocesan Engagement Manager said, “When we welcome students to use their gifts and talents to create a unique item to sell, we allow those students to put their faith into action in another way that benefits the community.”
The marketplace is held on school grounds; students set up booths to sell their items, and other students, school staff, and parents come to shop. They also present information about the cause for which they are raising money. Partner schools help their students learn important business skills, including sales, marketing, inventory, manufacturing, project management and more.
Not only do you get the children involved, you get their parents involved. Working with Catholic Charities was a perfect fit,” said Deborah Westerfield, Director of Campus Ministry at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School.
We are grateful to the schools that have partnered with us in offering Miracle Projects. We invite any school, Catholic or not, to offer this program to their students. Miracle Projects is one unique way to meet this objective and make a difference in the lives of others.
Congratulations to our Volunteer Services Team, led by Volunteer Services Manager Shannon Hill. The team was awarded the Service Enterprise Initiative Accreditation by ASU Lodestar Center, Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE) and Points of Light. The Service Enterprise Initiative is a national program that provides training and certification to nonprofits that are committed to implementing exemplary volunteer management practices to achieve operational efficiency and greater social impact. “Becoming recertified as a Service Enterprise Agency has affirmed that our agency is committed to integrating volunteers in meaningful and strategic ways and has continued to implement the structure put in place since the original certification in 2016,” said Shannon Hill.
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