He spoke of his battle for survival in his village and the passing of his brothers from hunger. He attributed his survival and education to the generosity of America's schools collecting rice bowl money and donating to Catholic Relief Services to fight hunger and poverty in Africa. He encouraged students to be generous in this year's collection because he is living proof of the success of rice bowl collections.
Students in Ms. Chavez's Freshmen English classes felt inspired to do something extra. They challenged themselves to raise $3,000 to donate in addition to the religion class collection. Students brought anywhere from $10 to $300 over the course of three weeks. Students bringing over $100 included Andrew Turley, Katy Hellmuth, Brianna Lopez, Jasinto Cacho, Shawn To, Leslie Lopez, Frank Ceglia, and Carina Gutierrez. A total of 152 students participated in the collection.
The money was presented to Principal Ferry, Mr. Don Levan, Mr. Bon Warren, and Sr. Sara Goggin on Monday March 16th in the Our Lady Queen of Angeles Chapel on the Alemany campus. Mr. Ferry spoke of these students as setting a bar for others to follow in the future. Each dollar raised provides multiple meals and saves lives. Because of this collection, Bishop Alemany High School met and exceeded the goal for this year's rice bowl collection. Thanks Freshmen Warriors and congratulations on a job well done!