Lent is typically a time of fasting, penitence, sacrifice and alms giving. As a child I remember getting a calendar at the beginning of lent along with a small cardboard box. Each day had a interesting bit about the poor of the world and then a challenge to put so much money into the box. For example, one calendar box might read: 9.2 million children will walk to school barefoot today. Put a nickel in for each pair of shoes in your closet. Each day I'd go around counting shoes, windows, glasses of water drank, doors, meals eaten, etc. Then I'd place the proper amount of money in the mission box. I have fond memories of those calendars and became aware of the extreme poverty of the world. Eventually, on Easter Sunday, those boxes would be placed before the altar and the money sent on to a particular mission to help the poor. In past years, I searched the Internet looking for that sort of calendar to share with my children without any 
luck. This year, though, we received a foldable box and calendar from church. The calendar isn't quite as child friendly as the ones I remember, but it's a good starting place. Today's challenge was to learn about world hunger by visiting some website, but since I have a few children who gave up computer for Lent I decided to go another route. We read Beatrice's Goat and then I laid out a challenge for them. I typed out 10 age appropriate bible verses for each child to memorize. They can earn 50 cents per verse to place in the box. The money will then be sent to Catholic Relief Services for Operation Rice Bowl.
luck. This year, though, we received a foldable box and calendar from church. The calendar isn't quite as child friendly as the ones I remember, but it's a good starting place. Today's challenge was to learn about world hunger by visiting some website, but since I have a few children who gave up computer for Lent I decided to go another route. We read Beatrice's Goat and then I laid out a challenge for them. I typed out 10 age appropriate bible verses for each child to memorize. They can earn 50 cents per verse to place in the box. The money will then be sent to Catholic Relief Services for Operation Rice Bowl. 
