St Joseph Catholic School - CSW Penny Drive

Donations are collected by each class during CSW.

We welcome ALL monetary donations small or large and collection bottles are located in the office foyer.

Thank you for your contribution to this project.

2010 Catholic Schools Week Penny Drive

This year proceeds will go towards the completion of the
Catholic Church at the National Teachers College in Kaliro, Uganda

We have a personal connection to the project this year. Daniel Koza is the son of kindergarten teacher Frank Koza and his wife Donna. Daniel joined the Peace Corp in 2008 and was asked to serve in Uganda, Africa for a 27 month commitment. A few months after arriving in Uganda he was given his permanent assignment as a lecturer/teacher at the National teacher’s College located in Kaliro, Uganda. However, his duties have gone far beyond lecturing. Through observation and talking to the people in his community he has identified important needs of the college. Beyond his regular duties, he has raised funds to convert an abandoned room at the college into a counseling room for the students. He also secured a sizable donation of much needed new textbooks for the library (the books they did have were almost thirty years old, outdated and moldy). Recently, he secured funds from friends in the US to help refurbish the science classroom and renovation of an existing crude dirt basketball area on the school grounds.

When he discovered that the partially built brick structure on the campus grounds was at one time to be a Catholic church, he found that nothing more than part of the outer walls were completed before they ran out of funds back around 1985. Nothing more has been done due to the extreme poverty of the area. He has addressed so many needs in his short time there; addressing a spiritual need by helping to secure funds to finish the church has now become a recent priority. They need about 25 million Ugandan shillings to complete the church which translates to about $12,000 American dollars. Hopefully the St Joseph penny drive this year will give them a boost and new hope in realizing their dream to finally have a church they can meet and worship together in.

Daniel feels strongly about his service in Kaliro and recently informed his parents that he has extended his stay to another year commitment in Kaliro with the Peace Corp.

Photos from Kaliro, Uganda provided by Mr. Koza.