St. Nicholas

Mary‘s Story

Hello Family & welcome to the St. Nicholas fundraising page!

We are trying to raise $7500 for a well!

As you all know, we travelled to Uganda last summer and visited schools and villages where Drop in the Bucket was drilling water wells.  This trip made a huge impact on how the children and Peter and I see the world, and one of the things it brought home to me was how how simple helping someone can really be.  Sometimes we think that far away charities are just images or words, but seeing the difference a well can make for a community was unbelievable.  Something my family absolutely takes for granted– that water comes out of the faucet– when you don’t have that, how hard life is! Peter and James helped some moms carry their water back home, and they can attest that it is NOT easy– a five gallon jerry can on the head, or one in each hand, for even a short distance is very hard.  We saw many wells, most of them are drilled at schools, almost all that we saw were Catholic schools, so that the well remains public and is on no one’s property. Everyone can use the wells, and the community must raise money for upkeep before drilling begins.  The wells themselves are very simple, long lasting structures– manual pumps with handles and a concrete pad.  Drop in the Bucket is a small organization, and employs almost all local Ugandans who run the drill rigs, do community planning and outreach, and keep the organization running.

We decided to name this fundraiser after the great Saint of gifts, and if we raise $6000 we can name the well after the saint as well.  I thought of St. Nicholas because I was thinking of Dad, and how we can think sometimes, especially in the US, that charity is complicated and may not make much of a difference, but that Dad’s example and the inspiration of the good Bishop, is that it can really be a very simple matter of generosity giving joy to others. 

There’s no pressure from us, I just thought I would present this as an option if you all are thinking of charitable giving in the future, maybe this could be something you consider. 

Here’s a link to the fundraiser below:

https://dropinthebucket.org//campaign/st-nicholas/

Thanks so much for your support and generosity!