An effort to help a Lewiston native’s work with poor and hungry children in Bolivia will become an annual drive.

On Nov. 15, 2008, a group of Lewiston Catholics auctioned 52 paintings created by children and teens from the Santa Cruz Soup Kitchen in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba. The auction raised $3,970, more than any of the organizers had expected.

“There were maybe 100 people there,” said Jason Hall, a local Catholic who traveled to Bolivia last summer and helped organize the event. “But they were the people that needed to be there.”

The money raised will help make renovations to the roof of the former Jesuit Chapel that now operates as the soup kitchen.

The Rev. Robert Lacasse of Lewiston runs the soup kitchen on a $300-per-month budget. Lacasse, 75, has been working in Bolivia since 1963.

“He’s still astounded by the amount of money that was raised,” Hall said.

For several years, Lewiston’s Catholic churches have been helping Lacasse through the Holy Cross Social Justice and Peace Committee. Already, planning has begun for another, larger auction to be held this fall, on the last weekend of September.

– Daniel Hartill