The National Weather Service projects a daytime high of 107 today. I’m not surprised. The first Saturday in June always seems to be rather warm. Or hot.
I know because I find myself outside around noontime that day almost every year taking pictures of our newly ordained priests alongside our bishops. I also know I’m very grateful to find water, even if it’s those mini bottles, in the reception hall. It doesn’t even have to be chilled to do its job of making my day and hydrating my body after taking pictures during a two-hour Mass.
I imagine local homeless men and women living in our area feel the same way. They rely on water to get them through the day, or at least the afternoon, from places such as:
- Paz de Cristo
- Catholic Charities
- St. Vincent de Paul
- St. Joseph the Worker
- André House
- City of Phoenix and its role with the Heat Relief Network
Some local Catholic school students have already done their part to help. Sixth-graders at Blessed Pope John XXXIII in Scottsdale hosted this month’s school-wide service project with a lofty goal of collecting 10,000 bottles of water in one week. Someone counted 300 the first day with donations reportedly doubling after that until they had nearly 10,500 bottles of water for St. Vincent de Paul clients by the week’s end.
Stories came in of students donating directly from their lunchboxes. St. Vincent de Paul’s blog has a good post about the school effort and how to donate water or set up a drive. Parishioners at St. Bernadette next door collected another 3,000 bottles for the agency.
Students at St. Matthew School held a one-day bottled water drive the same week. Students earned free dress by donating a case of water for the refugee resettlement program at Catholic Charities. There was not an exact count, but most of the school’s 15-passenger bus seats were piled high with cases of water as was the back.
