TOLEDO—The children of Toledo St. Patrick of Heatherdowns were thanked June 5 for charitable gifts that have been made during the 2008-09 academic year. Recipients of gifts from the weekly Joyful Noise Collection and annual Mardi Gras fundraiser were at the 10:30 a.m. Mass.

The Mardi Gras celebration, which is a student-run event, raised $3,010.98 for the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Vincent Mercy Children’s Medical Center. The two-year total of the donation to the medical center exceeds $6,000.

Children from the entire parish community contribute weekly to the Joyful Noise Collection, a coin collection taken during every weekend Mass. Each fiscal quarter, the funds from this collection are split and tithed to the parish and one charitable organization. The charitable groups were selected by a vote of all children registered in the school and the religious education program. Recipients this year include:

HeartBeat of Toledo received $164 in December of 2008.

Ryan’s Well Foundation, a Canadian group that drills safe drinking water wells in Africa, received $260 in March of 2009.

Kaylee’s Course for Progeria Research received a check for $469 on Friday.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is scheduled to receive the September 2009 collection.

St. Patrick of Heatherdowns received $893 for parish use.

A third fundraising initiative is ongoing. Students in the school began raising money for Heifer International in February. During this 18-month initiative, the students hope to generate $5,000, which would allow them to purchase an “ark-full” of animals for the organization (this means two of each type of animal available for Heifer International sponsorship). To date, students have raised $1,500 toward this goal.