February 19, 2025

By Keith Benman
Contributing Writer

A 10-year mission at St. James School in aid of a student in Nicaragua continued this year, with $275 raised to cover school costs for Kevin.

The Nicaraguan 10th-grader and his family have relied on St. James students to pay his costs through elementary and high school, in a country where most children only attain seven years of schooling.

“When we do something for someone it makes them feel good and we feel good,” said St. James sixth grader Lauren Terpstra. “And they might do the same for someone else. It’s kind of like a chain reaction.”

Like other students at the elementary school in Gouverneur, Terpstra earned money by doing extra chores around the house and donating the money to Kevin’s education.

Religion teacher Dayna Leader brought the idea to the school when some of her own children were still in attendance there and her older ones where heading off to Nicaragua on mission trips. The program has created excitement among nearly a generation of students and their families. The parish youth group also sponsors a student in Nicaragua.

“Every family is so eager, those kids are so excited to contribute and know they’re making a difference in a person’s life,” Leader said.

The fundraising usually takes place during the Advent season and is incorporated into lessons about the Corporal Works of Mercy, which the U.S. Catholic bishops define as those responses “to the basic needs of humanity as we journey together through this life.”

Apparently, they’re learning those lessons well at St. James School.

“Almost every time you can do something for someone else, you feel in your heart that it’s the right thing,” said sixth grader Alex Mendez-Sands when asked about his donation. “And whenever you help someone, you are helping Jesus, because Jesus is inside of every one of us.”

Some extra excitement is added by having a “pajama day” at the school and having the principal wear a school uniform jumper if the fundraising goal is surpassed. This year, the $275 raised crushed the $140 goal.

Leader said she corresponds with Kevin’s mother on a regular basis through Facebook Messenger. She has received pictures of Kevin along with his report cards to share with students. They show that he’s an honor student. Some of her own children have met Kevin on their mission trips to the country.

In a country where the average income is $2,600, school costs are a barrier to education for a good deal of Nicaragua’s population. In addition, many schools in Nicaragua charge tuition. And even the costs for books, uniforms and other supplies are too much for some families to afford.

St. James School supports Kevin’s schooling through the education program of the non-profit group North Country Mission of Hope, which is based in Peru, New York. That organization got its start when a family from Nicaragua with children at Seton Catholic school, in Plattsburgh, inspired students there to reach out to help students in the Central American country more than 25 years ago, according to Deacon James Carlin, Mission of Hope executive director.

Today, people throughout the North Country, New York State and dozens of other states sponsor the education of almost 700 students in Nicaragua through Mission of Hope.

“We like to have people, like the students at St. James, who pick up a child early in their education and follow that child through to trade school or college,” Deacon Carlin said.

Many of the sponsors are people who as youngsters made mission trips to Nicaragua with Mission of Hope. Those mission trips stopped in 2018 after civil uprisings and the Nicaraguan government’s response.

Today, Mission of Hope’s student sponsorships, health care mission, feeding program and other programs in Nicaragua help maintain solidarity between the Catholic communities in the two countries.

“It’s to help kids and people better understand that no matter where you live, no matter your economic circumstances, children are children and students are students,” Deacon Carlin said.