Delco Satanists Award $666 To Three High Schoolers

FOLSOM, PA — Three local high school students have an extra $666 to spend however they choose thanks to a group of Satanists in Delaware County.

The group Satanic Delco recently launched its scholarship program, called the Outside Achievement Award.

The award sought out a Ridley High School student who "embraces individualism, empathy, free-thought, and skepticism" to be presented a scholarship good for $666.

However, in the end three students were chosen to be presented $666 each in handmade envelopes, complete with Satanic Delco wax seals, as well as handmade certificates.

Hannah Barnes was the student who earned the most votes from Satanic Delco members.

Barnes submitted a video of her singing and playing keyboard to a song she wrote, Satanic Delco founder Joseph Rose said.

"We all kind of connected with that one," he said.

Rose shared a message he got from Barnes following the presentation with Patch. She said the scholarship means she will be able to graduate and that winning the award "means the world" to her.

But entries from Charles Schiffer and Tania Miller also made such strong impacts on members that they decided to present them with the awards, as well. Their entries were a poetic short entry and a longer personal essay on the high school experience.

The Outsider Achievement Award was an idea from Satanic Delco member Veronica Veratti, who is a Ridley High School graduate herself.

Rose said the group initially planned to award one student the funds, but the group decided to expand the financial award to three students.

"I had it up for a vote within the group," Rose said of the selection process. "In midst of that, one member suggested giving it to all three."

Rose said that member, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he wanted to cover the cost to provide $666 to two other students in addition to the winner.

Rose launched another member-driven fundraising effort and drummed up more money in addition to the anonymous member's contribution, which Rose called a nice "chunk of change," to allow all three to be given the funds.

Next year, Satanic Delco plans to expand its scholarship program to all graduating seniors in Delaware County.

For the unfamiliar, Satanic Delco is not actually a group of Satan's worshipers and is an independent congregation that is unaffiliated with any other Satanic groups. They follow seven tenets commonly followed among larger groups of Satanists.

Those tenets are:

1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
3. One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone.
4. The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
5. Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
6. People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
7. Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

And the group holds true to these tenets. In November last year, the group donated about $2,800 worth of items to the Domestic Abuse Project of Delaware County and also spent a day handing out homelessness survival kits in Philadelphia in September.