This month’s Common Basket donation will be given to St. Jean Baptiste De Lasalle College in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. The Common Basket for this mass was put together by Ms. Meagher of the Campus Ministry Department, and information for the month’s Common Basket was passed through the World Language Department to the students.

Hurricane Matthew, which harshly affected Haiti, didn’t cause a lot of damage to the school directly, but it did a lot of damage to the homes of students who attend the college. The money will go directly to St. Jean Baptiste De La Salle and be distributed to the families the school finds most in need. “Because of the recent damage and disaster caused by the hurricane, this Common Basket took priority over other ideas,” campus minister Mrs. Becca Meagher said.

Most of the money raised will be used to help families in need while the rest be used for medical care, food, and student transportation. BSM was connected to this cause through Mary Anne, whom Meagher met in a summer LaSallian formation program. “She travels to Haiti quite a bit and she saw a Facebook post about the effects of the hurricane on the school,” Meagher said.  

Mary Anne will give BSM an update on St. Jean Baptiste De La Salle school when she visits Haiti in January. This Common Basket is especially important because it is going to a college with students who have an imminent need of assistance. The money raised by the BSM community will be used to restore the homes of students that were damaged or destroyed by the hurricane.

The Benilde-St. Margaret’s students and faculty raised $1,372.14 through this Common Basket.