How to make a balloon rosary

Once constructed, the rosary will be quite large. It will not be possible to transport it in a vehicle (unless you have access to a private bus).  Therefore it is important to construct the rosary at a location reasonably close to your objective location. 

1. Fill and tie balloons. Though you want the balloons to be big, make sure not to fill them too much, as you want them to be tough and able to endure a beating. As you fill, it is good to either immediately tie the balloons on or have some one hold them. It is inconvenient to constantly be climbing a latter to pull balloons down from the ceiling.

2. Make one decade at a time. Leaving extra string at the end to connect the Our Father balloons. Take the spool and tie on the first balloon. Do not cut the string. Run it up along the side of the balloon and tape it with the packaging tape. Make sure the balloon is taped so that it continues from the very top of the balloon (like a rosary bead). Use any object that is the appropriate length to measure to the point where the next balloon will be tied on (We used a coat hanger for 17 inch balloons). Continue this process until you have the first decade. As you finish each decade, tape both ends down to the floor or chairs.

3. Once you have made all five decades, fill up the Our Father balloons. It is desirable to use larger balloons for this. They will eat up more helium, but the trick is to fill about 3 of the bigger balloons up with half air and the rest helium. That way the rosary will not float away too fast. It will give time for it to slowly and dramatically ascend. Using a longer measurement between balloons, connect the decades by tying on the Our Father balloons. Depending on how much string you left on the ends of the decades, you may have to add in extra string to bring things together.

4. Use the same method of construction to make the part of the rosary nearest the cross for the Faith, Hope, and Charity beads. You would do well to double reinforce the string in this part to help strengthen the string that will be holding the weight of the cross to the rosary and any other areas that look weak. The two bigger Our Father beads in this section should definitely be filled with pure helium to make sure that the weight of the cross is lifted.

5. There are many ways one could make the cross. It is important to make sure that it is not too heavy. Also, it depends on how “green” you are trying to be in regards to the materials that you use. For one rosary, we made the cross from smaller balloons, and more recently we used long strips of foam board notched and put together. Then we wrapped the entire cross in masking tape since it can hold paint with out letting it penetrate the tape, as paint eats foam board. Then we spray painted the entire thing with gold spray paint, VERY effective. To make sure the cross didn’t break off the rosary, we drilled a hole through the top and cut a small tube and fit it into the hole to fortify the spot where the string was to secure the cross to the rosary. Also, I am sure one could use card-board, biodegradable foam board etc. Good luck and have fun with this part.

   The number of American households that were unbanked last year dropped to its lowest level since 2009, a dip due in part to people opening accounts to receive financial assistance during the pandemic, a new report says.  

   Roughly 4.5% of U.S. households – or 5.9 million – didn't have a checking or savings account with a bank or credit union in 2021, a record low, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's most recent survey of unbanked and underbanked households. 

   Roughly 45% of households that received a stimulus payment, jobless benefits or other government assistance after the start of the pandemic in March, 2020 said those funds helped compel them to open an account, according to the biennial report which has been conducted since 2009.

   "Safe and affordable bank accounts provide a way to bring more Americans into the banking system and will continue to play an important role in advancing economic inclusion for all Americans,'' FDIC acting chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said in a statement.  

   A lack of banking options delayed some households from getting federal payments aimed at helping the country weather the economic fallout from the COVID-19 health crisis.

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   The FDIC initiated an educational campaign to get more Americans to open an account to enable the direct deposit of those funds. And banks such as Capital One and Ally Financial ended  overdraft and other fees that have been a key barrier to some Americans accessing the banking system. 

   What does it mean to be unbanked?

   A household is deemed unbanked when no one in the home has an account with a bank or credit union. That share of households has dropped by nearly half since 2009. And since 2011, when 8% of U.S. households were unbanked, the highest since the start of the survey, and the record low reached in 2021, roughly half of the drop was due to a shift in the financial circumstances of American households the FDIC says.

   Who are the underbanked?

   Those who have a checking or savings account, but also use financial alternatives like check cashing services are considered underbanked. The underbanked represented 14% of U.S. households, or 18.7 million, last year.   

   Why are people unbanked or underbanked?

   Many of those who are unbanked say they can't afford to have an account because of the fees for insufficient funds and overdrafts that are tacked on when account balances fall short. Roughly 29% said fees or not having the required minimum balance were the primary reasons they didn't have a checking or savings account, as compared to 38% who cited those obstacles in 2019.

   Are some groups more likely to be unbanked? 

   The numbers of the unbanked were greater among households that included those who were working age and disabled, lower income, included a single mother, or were Black or Hispanic. Among white households for instance, 2% didn't have a bank account last year as compared to 11% and 9% of their Black and Hispanic counterparts.

   Meanwhile, nearly 15% of households with a working age member who had a disability were unbanked compared to almost 4% of other households. And  nearly 16% of households with a single mother were unbanked as compared to about 2% of married couples who lacked an account. 

    "These gaps attest there's still a lot of opportunity to expand participation across the population in the banking system,'' Keith Ernst, Associate Director of Consumer Research and Examination Analytics at the FDIC, said during a media call about the report.            

   Will the number of unbanked rise if the U.S. has a recession? 

   Perhaps.

   "During the last recession unbanked rates did indeed go up,'' Karyen Chu, chief of the Banking Research Section at the Center for Financial Research, said during the call. 

   Additionally, last year, homes where the head of household was out of work were nearly five times more likely to not have a bank account as compared to those where the household head was employed.

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   "To the extent that income goes down ... that has generally been associated with increases in unbanked rates,’’ Chu said. 

   How many balloons do I need to make a rosary?

   The church will create a rosary made up of 59 helium balloons.

   How do you make a rosary step by step?

   The traditional structure of rosary prayer beads is five groups of 10 beads (decades) separated by an additional bead. For each beaded segment, cut a piece of wire to size, turn a loop on one end to make an eye pin, add the bead, and then turn a loop on the other. Repeat this a total of 53 times.