Students send help to India, Afghanistan

Community

'2012 IN 2012’

n What: St. Mary School initiative to raise $2,012 for an orphanage in India and collect 2,012 pounds of blankets, shoes, coats and clothing for Afghan refugees.

n Where: Money, blankets and clothing accepted at Lake Leelanau Excavating, 222 W. Main St. in Lake Leelanau, starting today from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.

n For more info: Marie Hahnenberg at 256-9670, ext. 500, or mhahnenberg@stmarysll.org.

Related Photos

Retired Col. Victor Kuchar, U.S. Air Force, is pictured in this 2006 photo taken at an orphanage in Afghanistan, where women are visiting their children whom they cannot care for on their own because their husbands are dead, badly wounded or lame. Special to the Record-Eagle

January 23, 2012

By Carol South Special to the Record-Eagle The Record Eagle Mon Jan 30, 2012, 12:50 PM EST

Hoping to alleviate a scale of poverty and suffering nearly unimaginable, St. Mary School students are raising money and clothing to send overseas.

The 200 students at the Lake Leelanau school launched an ambitious plan sparked by a visit from Victor Kuchar, a retired United States Air Force colonel. An Owosso native, Kuchar visited the school Jan. 11 and shared about Catholic nuns in India who care for the most desperate: orphans, the aged and destitute, lepers, the dying, and the mentally and physically handicapped.

Kuchar also told the students about another initiative he champions that sends clothing and blankets to children in Afghanistan.

From his visit, the students created "2012 in 2012" with a goal to help both efforts. They are raising $2,012 to send to the Divine Sisters Service, which cares for nearly 3,000 people in 92 homes located in four Indian states. Students are also raising 2,012 pounds of blankets, shoes, coats and clothing, which will be sent to Afghani refugees. They hope to meet these goals by the end of February.

"They definitely connected with it. It was a very moving presentation," said Jozell Rexroat, chair of spiritual emphasis at the school. "He showed the students (the) children that are going to get these clothes. I think kids can connect when they see a little child standing next to a hole and that's where he lives because he has no parents. Or standing there in weather like ours in bare feet."

Rexroat read about Kuchar's work in the statewide magazine "Catholic Weekly." She brought the information to the school's spiritual offices and, with their encouragement, worked to find Kuchar. Rexroat finally called the magazine for help, where the article's author took her contact information. At the time of her call, Kuchar was in India for a month helping the sisters.

When the talk was finally arranged, Kuchar's visit coincided with the high school's annual service project, Blankets of Hope.

"We do it around Valentine's Day, our service-from-the-heart project," Rexroat said. "When I initially read the article, I said, 'Oh, God must be telling me this is where our blankets go this year.' Because every year a need arises for them."

Raising money can be easy with Kuchar's formula: Skip one meal out, just one, in the next month or two and donate that amount to the fundraiser held by the students at St. Mary School. The $2,012 will join other fundraising efforts earmarked to complete a residence for women and a roof on a church that is open to the elements, and buy medicines.

"These sisters take everybody in," Kuchar said.

Retired after 34 years of service, Kuchar continues as a Pentagon consultant and will return to Afghanistan next week. A devout Catholic, his countless hours helping others are inspired by Matthew 25, specifically verse 40: "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"

Kuchar met the sisters in India during a trip there in 2007, where he was captivated by their devotion in the midst of grinding poverty and deprivation. Kuchar returned to India two years ago with a specific to-do list and wound up immersed in the greater scope of the mission. Instead of merely putting on a new roof, building an outhouse and creating a safe well, he learned of the desperate need for medicine. He visited even more derelict structures serving as shelters, even more desperate residents, and realized the extent of the need.

"I would say they captured my heart and in conjunction with that, you hear people talking about a calling," he said. "It seemed to be a destiny for me."

Back in the United States, he began sharing about their mission and working out how to help most effectively. Kuchar hopes his talk at St. Mary School draws interest from more schools in the Diocese of Gaylord and around the state.

"The temptation is that you can't help them all, so why bother?" Kuchar said. "I might not be able to save them all, but I'm going to try and do what I can."