St. Mary's Youth Ministry Program Raises Money for Poor

St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church's High School Youth Ministry Program raised more than $3,000 Saturday evening during a five-hour dance-a-thon at the parish's gymnasium to benefit the Working Boys' Center in Quito, Ecuador.

The money will help the nonprofit Catholic organization—which serves more than 400 families of working children annually at three locations in Quito—build homes for the poor and continue to assist them with vocational training, according to Danielle Sigrist, youth minister at St. Mary's in Los Gatos.

St. Mary's High School Youth Ministry Program, also known as Welcoming All Voices, or WAV, has about 70 high school students who give service and help fight poverty on a local level. They attend various public schools such as Los Gatos, Leigh, Branham and Catholic high schools such as St. Francis, Presentation, Archbishop Mitty and Notre Dame, Sigrist said.

Their families are members of the Los Gatos parish, Sigrist explained.

Several of the teens traveled to Quito last summer with St. Mary's pastor, Father Rick Rodoni, to provide service at the WBC. "They spent some serious time down there, not on a pleasure trip, but working and volunteering," Sigrist said.

They were so inspired and touched by what they saw in the Andean capital that upon their return they decided to continue to help the organization by donating money and having fundraising events, Sigrist noted.

That's how the students came up with the "Party for Poverty" dance-a-thon idea, which consisted of each youth getting sponsors for the dance, educating donors about the WBC through their fundraising effort and then dancing to fulfill their sponsorship pledges.

All overhead for the dance, such as the food, T-shirts, prizes, drinks, music and promotional materials, were donated by the parish, private individuals and local businesses, Sigrist added.

WAV meets 6-7:30 p.m. after the 5 p.m. youth Mass on Sunday evenings at the parish's new teen center located next to the church. During the summer months the teens participate in assorted San Jose Catholic Diocese activities.

WAV is open to teens of all denominations from any of the area high schools, Sigrist added. "Our emphasis is on building a parish youth community of friendship and faith," she said.

The program includes scripture study, retreats and community service. Youth with leadership skills are encouraged to become members of the program's Core Team, which is the leadership advisory board that plans events and what the focus of the program will be.