Here at St Michael’s we are proud to say we have our very own group of Mini Vinnies.
- President – William
- Vice President – Jasmine H
- Treasurers – Jasmine T and Tom
What are Mini Vinnies?
‘Mini Vinnies’ are children aged between 7 to 11 (or younger) who, with the permission of their parents and the support of their Schools, are encouraged to embark on their first steps as possible ‘Vincentians for life’.
Mini Vinnies are a younger version of The Society of St Vincent de Paul. The group is seen as having, “The potential to significantly contribute to the future of our Society.”
As Mini Vinnies, the youngsters have their own ‘treasured’ Prayer, Pledge and Badge, a dedicated website and a range of bright and colourful documents which guide them in their formative steps – helping and enabling them to become in every sense, young Vincentians – or ‘Mini Vinnies’.
Mini Vinnies Meetings
To find out what is happening in the Mini Vinnies have a look at our notice board in school and read the minutes of our meetings.
St Michael’s Mini Vinnies
St Michael’s Mini Vinnies meet every other week with Miss Johnston to find ways to turn concern into action.
This year we have been extremely busy. Take a look at some of the things we have done.
- Introduced certificates to be presented in assembly each Monday to children displaying our Catholic Values.
- Took on the role of setting up the chapel each week for mass.
- Organised games and a raffle for the Macmillan and CLIC Sargent coffee afternoon aswell as helping at the event.
- Advertised and taken part in praying the Rosary in the chapel during the month of October.
- Advertised and sold poppy mechandise to raise money for the Poppy Appeal.
- Sold Christmas bears to raise money for St.Cuthbert’s Hospice.
- Set up a postbox to collect used stamps to raise funds for Macmillan and CLIC Sargent.
- Collected food for the Durham Food Bank.
- Made and delievered food hampers and cards to the elderly parishioners.
- Made Christmas cards for a card swap at Wingate Infant School.
- Sent our stamps off to the Stamp Champ Appeal.
- Took part in the Youth Friday Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle.
- Took part in Stations of the Cross.
- Organised an Easter Egg Raffle to raise funds for a Children’s Cancer Charity.
- Set up a permanent foodbank area in school
- Made and sent Easter cards to send to parishioners.
- Worked with Lepra Charity and took part in a Bollywood workout to raise money
- Set up and area for Mary in the chapel during May
- Prepared and delivered an assembly about our fundraising efforts this year
Setting up for Mass
Our older Mini Vinnies have taken on the responsibility of setting up the chapel each week for mass. Eventually they will train up some of our younger Mini Vinnies to help.
Macmillan and CLIC Sargent Coffee Afternoon
Mini Vinnies helped organise a coffee afternoon in memory of Reuben. They spent time organising games and making decorations and bunting for the afternoon.
We organised a raffle and collected prizes as well as a ‘guess the name of the teddy’ and ‘guess the amount of sweets in the jar’. All of these activities were successful and Mini Vinnies raised £150.20.
Mini Vinnies enjoyed helping out at the afternoon. They welcomed parents, ran their stalls and helped to sell cakes.
Over all the afternoon raised over £800.
Poppy Appeal
During the first week of November, Mini Vinnies sold poppies and friendship bracelets to raise money for the Poppy Appeal.
Christmas Hampers/Food Bank Donation
We have been busy collecting food donations to make hampers for our elderly parishioners as well as making a donation to the local foodbank. Thank you to everyone for your kind donations.
We wrote to Father Coxon asking for a list of parishioners who would benefit from one of our food hampers. We also enjoyed designing cards to go with the hampers. Mini Vinnies then went out to deliver the parcels to the local parishioners. It was wonderful to put a smile on their faces.
Our Christmas Memory Tree
We recognised that it has been a difficult year for everyone with the loss of many loved ones. Therefore we set up a memory tree in school where everyone was welcome to write a message of remembrance for a loved one and place it on the tree.
Festive Friends
We sold ‘Christmas festive friends’ to raise money for St Cuthbert’s hospice. We raised a fantastic total of £268.20.
Stamp Appeal
Mini Vinnies have set up a post-box in the school entrance to collect used stamps for Macmillan and CLIC Sargent. By collecting stamps we can raise vital funds to help the growing number of people affected by cancer every day. Collecting stamps is an easy way to raise money for these two important charities. All you need to do is tear off the used stamp and send them into school to add to our collection.
Did you know?
By collecting 1kg of stamps for CLIC Sargent you can pay for a family to stay in a ‘home from home’, located near treatment centres, so that they can be close to their child during treatment. For every kilo of stamps collected for Macmillan, £7.50 plus VAT will be paid to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Evey half term we send off envelopes full of stamps to these two charities.
Youth Friday Mass
Two of our Mini Vinnies celebrated mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle. They were lucky enough to get their photo taken with the Bishop.
Stations of the Cross
During Lent, Miss Kirkwood held a Stations of the Cross prayer session in the Chapel. Mini Vinnies designed the posters to advertise this and some of them read some of the readings each week.
Easter Cards
Mini Vinnies wrote to Father Coxon to ask for a list of local parishioners who would be happy to receive an Easter card. They spent time decorating the cards and writing Easter greetings inside. Each card included an Easter blessing/prayer.
Easter Egg Raffle
An Easter egg raffle was organised by Mini Vinnies to help raise money for their chosen charity, The North of England Children’s Cancer research. With your help we raised £230.50. Thank you. Also, a big thank you to all the staff and governors who donated eggs as prizes.
Month of Mary
Mini Vinnies set up and area in the chapel for Mary during the month of May. We added flowers and prayers from each class.
Lepra
We became involved with this charity after Roz gave a speech in our local church. Lepra came into school and delivered an assembly on Leprosy and the devastating effects it can have on many families in India. Two weeks later we all took part in a sponsored Bollywood Dance to help raise money for this charity. Thank you very much to all who donated to this important cause. In total we raised £606.20
Mini Vinnie’s Assembly
We worked hard to organise and deliver an assembly to the rest of the school focusing on our fundraising efforts throughout this year. We explained to the rest of the school what they had done to help and how they should all be proud of themselves. We awarded each class a certificate for their fundraising efforts this year.
This year at St Michael’s we have all been ‘Fundraising Charity Ninjas!’ We are so proud of everyone’s efforts.
Thank you once again for all your support and kind donations throughout this year.
