Six Thousand pounds of life’s basic necessities were collected by the parish community of St. Thomas the Apostle, Smyrna, in the third annual Lenten drive for a sister mission in the slums of Kingston, Jamaica.

Three years ago, a group of parishioners led by Father Don Baribeau, MS, pastor, visited with Father Richard HoLung and the 24 brothers at the Missionaries of the Poor in Kingston. The group operates several apostolates housing the sick, poor, blind and others forgotten by society.

During their five-day stay, the Smyrna visitors participated in the life of the mission. They washed floors and clothes, changed bandages, shaved and showered the crippled. Parishioners Dr. Gerald Bortolazzo and his wife, Terry, a nurse, saw to the medical needs of the people being sheltered.

The visitors witnessed the lines of hungry people, as many as one thousand, waiting in line for flour, beans, corn.

Out of this first visit came the special Lenten drive of the parish school of religion. The younger children collected soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, gauze and toilet paper. The middle school children collected “change for chickens” and held a car wash to raise funds for the brothers. The chickens provide eggs to feed the needy.

For four consecutive weeks during the drive, parishioners collected beans, flour, milk powder, canned meat and shoes, as well as plastic bags for holding the items. Goods collected filled 225 boxes.

During the last week of the drive, pledges were raised to help pay the cost of electricity and water in the slum mission. On April 17 the outreach ministry held its annual pancake breakfast to raise additional money.

For the second straight year, Mike Eckleberry’s company provided all of the boxes and shipping tape. The filled boxes were picked up and shipped free of charge to a Miami boat dock by Pete McKenna of a Doraville trucking firm.