La Mesa Compartida

THE SHARED TABLE

La Mesa Compartida (The Shared Table), a Project inspired by the Year of the Eucharist, has been set up to provide a meal a day for children in the area of our Parish known as Cangallo (see Water Projects for futher information about Cangallo.)

Cangallo, through the generosity of the Diocese of Raphoe in Co Donegal Ireland, received a donation in 2004 which enable the construction of a small complex consisting of library, kitchen and toilets. The library provides space and resources for children and adolescents for the purpose of after-school study in the evenings in conditions that their homes simply cannot provide.

Through the initiative of a group of mothers, it was decided to put both the library and kitchen to more effective use by combining both to operate as a "comedor" (dining room) during the day. Funds from the Diocese of Ballarat Australia, particularly from the Parish of Horsham, and from the Primary School of Hollywood, Co Wicklow Ireland, have already enabled us to purchase various kitchen and dining utensils, as well as provide initial meals for the children. The biggest challenge is to provide the daily meal on an ongoing basis for up to 60 children, many of whom go for more than a day without a proper meal.

In this Year of the Eucharist then, we are extending the invitation to households to put aside $1.00 a week from the the family grocery budget to share a meal with a child here in Cangallo. The sharing of Eucharist implies that we become "bread for others", and so this invitation offers us a very practical means through which we are enabled to live out the implications of sharing Eucharist.

Because this project must be sustainable, the commitment is long term. Therefore practical organisation is important. Accordingly, we invite those who are interested to form household groups of ten, with a contact person previously nominated. The contact person is responsible for collecting a total donation of $52.00 from every household before the month of July each year. This means that every group donates a total of $520.00 annually. The money is sent directly to the Missionary Society of Saint Columban in Essendon Victoria, Australia, to be forwarded to Fr. Michael McKinnon for the Shared Table project. All money received goes directly into the Project to provide food for the table.