Wroclaw (Poland). Aware that the world needs the testimony of “good Samaritans”, who selflessly dedicate time and care to the service of others, the Province of Mary Help of Christians (PLA) proposed the “Good Samaritan Project” lived in all the works of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians under the slogan, “The courage of good deeds”.
A total of 20 local, short-term or even six-month projects were carried out. “The courage of good gestures” inspired young people to grasp the needs of the local environment and plan activities that could concretely change reality. The children were the real protagonists of these projects, assuming with responsibility, creativity, and enthusiasm the tasks chosen.
The projects carried out by the littlest ones, by the children of the Kindergarten, mostly concerned attention to the elderly, to the lonely and sick people, trying to build a bridge between the generations. “We have the strength because our little hands and our hearts change the world.” Others tried to transform the environment of their school. The classroom in which they spend many hours during the week has become an oasis of rest, integration, thanks to plants and small animals. Thus, the care of the “home-school” allowed them to create friendly relations, decreased stress and tensions, and opened hearts.
Other young people who live in the family home run by the FMA, committed themselves not to waste the food that was left over and to share it with the needy. Every day they brought the containers with soup to the community refrigerator in their city. Each step became a step of gratitude and respect for every gift received.
The various activities carried out during the Project were concluded on 13 April 2024, in the school run by the FMA in Ostrów Wielkopolski, where representatives of the Primary and Early Childhood Schools, Oratories, and Family Homes met, to present the results of their work.
At the conclusion of the presentations, Sister Anna Szczêsna, Provincial of the PLA Province, addressing all the people participating in the Feast of Gratitude, underlined the word “courage”, which appears more frequently in the letters of Mother Mazzarello. One could say that courage is precisely at the beginning of every gesture of good and of Salesian work. The “Good Samaritan Project” has come to a conclusion, but the good achieved is still alive and remains in many hearts.
“With his gestures, the Good Samaritan showed that ‘the existence of each of us is linked to that of others: life is not a time that passes, but a time of encounter” (Fratelli Tutti 66).
