January 23, 2012

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES DEANERY — Students from Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), St. Ursula Villa and Summit Country Day School joined forces in 2011 to provide more than 1,000 pairs of shoes and 500 backpacks for their counterparts at the Cultural Center of Batahola Norte in Nicaragua.

The Shoes for Success program, an annual drive to collect new and gently used footwear, was initially established at IHM in 2008. After hearing about the opportunity to help others, children from two IHM parish families decided to expand the collection to their own schools, nearly doubling the amount of shoes and backpacks collected.

The Cultural Center of Batahola Norte is IHM’s twinning parish. Students in Batahola are required to have shoes in order to attend school, but the cost of shoes is a heavy burden for many families.

The donations were shipped to Nicaragua through Friends of Batahola, a not-for-profit organization established to provide resources for the growth and sustenance of the cultural center.