The Rosary Project St Gabriel is a parish school in Beau- Séjour, Haiti, a mountainous part of the country where children, eager to learn, walk miles to school. Praying the Rosary is a regular part of their day, and when asked by their parish priest what it is that they would treasure most, the children said it would be to have their own Rosary. When children from the junior and intermediate grades at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Elementary School heard about this request, they enthusiastically set out to make 350 Rosaries to send to the children of St Gabriel. They achieved this in less than a week by giving up their lunch recesses and demonstrating co-operation, patience, charity, and exemplary dedication to the task at hand. No one is more proud of her students than Principal Nancy D'Olimpio. Once the Rosaries were made, they needed to be blessed. One fine May morning, Rev Fr. Cull, celebrated a Mass during which the children showered our Blessed Mother with flowers and crowned her Queen of Heaven. Later that morning, Fr. Cull, who won over the hearts of the children during the short time he has been at the Parish, blessed the Rosaries in a simple but poignant ceremony. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and the presence of Our Mother Mary's grace and blessings was felt by all who were there. The group photo tells it.

Students from St. Luke Catholic Elementary School collected milk bags, cut them, made it into one yarn and then helped make two mats for the students from Gabriel school in Haiti.

The Twinning Committee would like to thank the parishioners for all the positive energy, wonderful fellowship and love surrounding the two blessed weekends following all the Masses. Once again our parishioners came through for our brothers and sisters from St. Gabriel's Parish in Beau Séjour, Haiti. We raised $552.00 from the 2013 "Hearts for Haiti". The money and paper hearts with donors' names will be sent to Beau Séjour sometime in the future.

Current Needs of St. Gabriel's: The four priorities listed by Father Ronal are:

1. New Road - it is a long and difficult walk to St. Gabriel's Parish
   (about a 5-6 hour walk - approx. 25 miles - and very slow and difficult to drive (10 mph).
   
   
2. New Rectory - the rectory is the only place for visitors to stay. At present it is very small.
   
   
3. Education - financial assistance is needed. $50 will pay school tuition for a student for one year.
   
   
4. Medical Supplies - The first team will assess medical needs and will be able to report on their immediate needs.

St. Margaret Mary Parish has once again shown it's generosity in support of our fundraising events. The commitment has been incredibly helpful and allowed us to support our brothers and sisters in Haiti. We collected $576.50 from our 2012 Green Tech fundraising - where "St. Margaret Mary Parish Goes Green" and $790.00 from the sale of hearts - "Hearts for Haiti".

Five dollars a heart. This was what it cost students to purchase a heart towards St. Francis Xavier's school building campaign.

On April 14th, the students of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Elementary School surpassed their $1,700 goal, raising $2,000 to build a school in Beau Séjour, Haiti. The fundraiser was spearheaded by students Jordyn Zamperin and Magdalena Kapron as part of their grade 8 community service confirmation requirement. Jordyn came up with the idea after being inspired by Free the Children's Craig Kielberger who spoke to HWCDSB students last year at a diversity conference. Magdalena was motivated to leave a mark at St. Francis before moving on to high school.

St. Francis' Hearts for Haiti campaign began on Valentine's Day and wrapped up at the end of March. At a school assembly on April 14th, the funds were presented to Father Bill Trusz, Pastor at St. Margaret Mary Church and Ron Roy who oversee the St. Margaret Mary twinning initiative with St. Gabriel's Parish in Beau Séjour, Haiti.

The St. Margaret Mary/St. Gabriel Twinning committee would like to thank those who purchased a "Heart for Haiti" in 2011.
$866.00 was raised through the generosity within our parish which will be put toward the many needs of our Haitian sisters and brothers
at St. Gabriel's Parish in Beau Séjour.

On Sunday October 24th, 2010 students of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board will be participating in Hamilton's seventh annual Pilgrimage "Walk with Christ-Justice for the Poor", an 8 kilometer walk that will raise money to support development projects in Uganda, Dominican Republic and our sister Parish St. Gabriel's in Haiti. Click here to download a registration form (pdf).

The St. Margaret Mary Twinning Committee has been corresponding with Holy Family Catholic Church in St. Peterburg, Florida, to explore how we can further assist our sister Parish in Beau Séjour. Holy Family is also twinned with Beau Séjour and has sent a number of assistance and medical teams to Haiti with our own Committee Member John Dobrowolski accompanying them on their last excursion. You can visit the Holy Family web site for more information at Holy Family Catholic Church or specifically for information on their Haiti Twinning project, click here.

A Peace Concert featuring the talented performer Rosanna Riverso was held at St. Margaret Mary Parish on Sunday September 19th, 2010. Rosanna and her professional musical entourage performed classic and inspirational pieces enjoyed by all and $2,965 was raised to assist our sister Parish in Beau Séjour.

St. Margaret Mary Parish held a Garage Sale Saturday May 15th, 2010 to assist our sister Parish in Beau Séjour. Though held indoors
in the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha School gym, everyone in attendance enjoyed the excellent weather and barbeque, and $1,688.65 was raised.

For a second year, St. Margaret Mary Parish has joined in prayer with our sister parish in Haiti during the Novena held
May 14 - May 23 leading up to Pentecost. This novena has been a special moment of regeneration for St. Gabriel parish for many
years; we joined them in prayer last year for the first time, and this year we again shared with them in many spiritual benefits.

The St. Margaret Mary/St. Gabriel Twinning committee whole heartedly thanks all those who purchased a "Heart for Haiti"
in 2010. Through the generous hearts within our parish, $1030.00 was raised, which will be put toward the many needs of our Haitian
sisters and brothers at St. Gabriel's Parish in Beau Séjour.

First Dental Team Travels to Beau Séjour

Months of planning and organization led to a dental team of 7 leaving for Beau Séjour the week of May, 2009. Photos of the actual trip are now available in Photo Gallery 5.

Beau Séjour Education Fund

The tuition fee to cover a child for 1 year is $50. When Father Philippe and Father Bill travelled to Beau Séjour in August of 2007,
Father Philippe was able to bring money to sponsor 161 children.

Father Philippe, with the approval of Father Bill, made an appeal to parishioners of St. Margaret Mary and created posters outlining
the sponsorship. From St. Margaret Mary, 113 sponsors came forward, along with 23 from Notre Dame and 11 from St. Ann's in Ancaster,
for a total of 147 sponsors. Father Philippe has photos and information on each of the children sponsored and will be distributing the
information to the sponsors.

Thank you to our Schools!

St. Margaret Mary, St. Daniel's and Blessed Kateri Schools embraced the Lenten Promise Tree throughout Lent. The trees at each school grew with every donation, prayer and act of kindness. The result was amazing and we thank our three elementary schools for supporting our sister parish, St. Gabriel's in Beau Séjour. May God continue to bless you always!	St. Margaret Mary Lenten Tree 2009
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Lenten Tree 2009	St. Daniel's Lenten Tree 2009

Bishop Ryan High School Holds a Fundraiser

In the year of celebrating it's 50th anniversay, students from Bishop Ryan High School in Hamilton have raised and donated $1000 to Beau Séjour through a recent "Civies Day".

Rosaries for Beau Séjour from St. Catherine of Alexandria Separate School




The students of Miss DeFazio's Grade 6 class at St. Catherine of Alexandria Separate School in Georgetown have shown their support and thoughts are with the people of Beau Séjour by creating 440 rosaries, all hand crafted.

The week of May 26th, 2008, the rosaries were delivered in person via a trip to Beau Séjour by a medical team from St. Margaret Mary.