The Union Leader: A Merrimack, N.H., parish this Lent learned the face of the needy isn't always the one on the Operation Rice Bowl collection boxes shipped to far-off lands.
It is also the Nashua, N.H., senior citizen unable to afford prescription drugs. It's an immigrant woman alone and homeless in a strange land. It may be a Manchester, N.H., child who goes without supper or a New Hampshire toddler battling disease.
During the six weekends of Lent, parishioners at Our Lady of Mercy dug deep into their pockets to raise more than $16,000 for the poor, abandoned, lonely and frightened and the agencies dedicated to serving them.
The Roman Catholic parish was to distribute checks of $2,700 each to the area charities at last night's Holy Thursday service, when the church worldwide re-enacts Christ's washing the feet of his disciples.
