Every year ACN helps provide summer camps for close to 100,000 children and young people in need. This year, a group of Portuguese students decided to do their part to help those in Ukraine benefit from this experience.
A group of Portuguese students managed to raise hundreds of euros to help provide summer camps for Ukrainian children just by studying hard.
Members of the Darca Club, a students’ organisation for extracurricular activities linked to Opus Dei, were awarded €1 for every hour of solid study, without cell phones or distractions. The money was provided by the Maria José and João Gagliardini Graça Foundation, which works in the field of culture, solidarity and education, for the development and dignity of the human person.
Through their hard work, the Darca girls managed to raise over €500 which they then delivered to Aid the Church in Need (ACN), to go towards the funding of summer camps in Ukraine.
Every year, close to 100,000 children, teenagers and young adults around the world get the opportunity to escape from situations of poverty, persecution and war for a few days at ACN-funded summer camps.
The plight of Ukrainian children, suffering almost daily attacks by Russia since the full-blown invasion in 2022, touched the hearts of the Portuguese students, who decided to offer help.
ACN funds several camps in Ukraine, but this money went to 285 young people from four parishes in the Ukrainian Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi.
This was the first time that the students from the Darca Club, the Gagliardini Graça Foundation and ACN teamed up for a joint initiative, but given the promising results, all have said that the doors are wide open for future collaboration.
Darca’s Maria do Rosário Almeida e Sousa, who helped to get the students involved, says that “we wanted to get them to study better, but we also hoped that their effort could benefit needy children, or those who are in difficult situations”. “They come to us because they know that we are strict, and they can study better. That means no cheating. They couldn’t study for 45 or 55 minutes, it had to be a full hour, and it had to be proper studying, with no interruptions or cell phones.”
Bishop Leon Dubravskyi of Kamyanets-Podilskyi has expressed his gratitude to ACN and those involved for their help, saying that “children and young people are especially vulnerable to war, pain, and the loss of loved ones. We want to help them during this difficult period, organising holidays where they can get some physical rest, but also spiritual support and hope.”
“Many of these children and young people had unforgettable experiences in these camps and were able to get away from the war and constant air strikes, at least for a short period of time, while also deepening their relationship with God.”
By Paulo Aido.
