St. Pio Parish

Haiti has very little public education and it is their only hope of making a better life. St. Pio Parish committed to providing educational scholarships to students that attend Notre Dame de Lourdes (NDL), starting with 10 students in 1998 and now sending 40 children to school.

The scholarship money raised covers the cost of tuition and books; the parents are responsible for the children’s transportation and meals.

On an ad hoc basis, St. Pio’s has also sent money to enable students to get eye exams and glasses and has provided school supplies on parish visits.

Since there are more than 500 children in the parish that need an education, standards were created to help the parish priest select applicants and manage the program effectively. These standards are intended to assure that the children are attending accredited schools and maintain a passing grade and that their parents take an active role in the support of their children’s educational progress.

Now that some of our scholarship students are graduating from high school, we have started helping them with further education, $600 per student per year. 

FUNDING

The average yearly cost for tuition and textbooks is $650 per child. The scholarship program is basically funded in two ways:

 

1) Donations from individuals both inside and outside the parish, who sponsor part or all of a child’s education. Around October each year, we ask for annual pledges of $450, but any amount is greatly appreciated and may be paid in installments throughout the year.

 

2) Local supermarket Gift Cards that are sold after each Mass, whereby you receive the full face value of the gift card but Walk With Haiti receives from the stores 5% of the value of cards sold, (Stop & Shop, ShopRite, and Big Y).

 

To make a donation, please send a check (made out to "Walk With Haiti" with 'Scholarships' or 'Education' in the memo) to: Walk With Haiti, St. Pio Parish, 161 Main St, Old Saybrook, CT 06475.