This year’s Mission Week successfully raised money for three different charities: St. Matthew’s Parish in the Ville, Water.org and the Jesuit Missions in Belize and Honduras.

Money going to St. Matthew’s Parish, located north of the St. Louis University, aims to bolster the surrounding Ville neighborhood.  The parish will have control of the revitalization project.

“[Supporting the Ville] allows us to literally step outside our middle-class, Catholic walls and help our neighbors who need it so much more than we do” student government president Drew Boland said.

Water.org aims to provide safe water to poverty-ridden countries by funding sanitation projects. The website uses the money to create sanitation facilities to produce cleaner water and then give those facilities to the community so they can sustain the operations themselves. De Smet is able to suggest who receives the donation, but the recipient is subject to change.

To support those on an international scale, Jesuit Missions in Belize and Honduras are working with Socio-Economic Outreach to help communities become sustainable and self-reliant. Students going on the Belize mission trip later this year will work with the program to help impoverished communities.

“The hope is to not just give a handout to people, but to get people involved in improving their own lives with the help from people from the outside in order to make that possible.  The idea is that your helping somebody help themselves,” director of student activities Mr. Anthony Plein said.