Notre Dame students volunteer to help area needy

Notre Dame Regional High School students didn't let a little nasty weather deter them from giving back to the area during Franciscan Service Week.

Sarah Strohmeyer, campus minister and theology teacher, said the week, which ran Feb. 16 to 21, is a collaboration of various schools staffed by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, which principal Brother David Migliorino is a member of.

Each year, the week is hosted by different schools, and it was Notre Dame's turn this year. However, students from St. Francis Prep in Queens, N.Y., and St. Anthony's on Long Island, couldn't make it because of inclement weather in New York. Strohmeyer met with the local students, who decided to give of their time anyway, working with a variety of organizations from the Southeast Missouri Food Bank to Birthright. Ten students and two adults participated, she said.

Strohmeyer gave students the option of participating in a work project at the beginning of the week, which was helping pack boxes at the Southeast Missouri Food Bank in Sikeston, Mo., and all but two took part.

"We honestly had a lot of fun," said 18-year-old senior Caleb Kester. "We got down there and the people who worked there were really welcoming and they were friendly and they created an environment [where] we could have fun, but we also accomplished a lot. I believe we boxed close to 500 boxes of food for people all the way around the Southeast Missouri area."

Mollie Ross, back, and Reagan Kapp, front, paint a room at Birthright. (Submitted photo)

The students took the next day off, but then painted a room and helped with a mass mailing of Birthright's annual report to donors. Birthright is a not-for-profit, nonpolitical, interdenominational, emergency pregnancy service offering alternatives to abortion, according to its website.

At St. Vincent de Paul Parish, students made sleeping bags, called "ugly quilts," for the homeless in St. Louis.

Participants then helped Habitat for Humanity by building a shed for a house the organization had recently constructed.

Students also helped launch a food pantry at St. Denis Catholic Church in Benton, Mo.

"They did a bunch of the initial set up for that," Strohmeyer said.

Reagan Kapp, left, and Mollie Ross help out at St. Denis food pantry in Benton, Mo. (Submitted photo)

"They had this huge garage full of just food that had been donated and we sorted it and put it away in cabinets and started making kits of food for families," said Mollie Ross, an 18-year-old senior.

Kester said he's been helping organize the pantry regularly.

"I have a lot of friends down there," he said, so whenever he visits, he stops by and helps out.

Because they weren't able to get to all the service projects they wanted to, Strohmeyer said they took on some after the service week, including a Saturday project at Watkins Wildlife Rehab in Sedgewickville, Mo., where students moved two cages, cleaned them, laid pavers as a foundation and put the cages back.

Ross and Kester said they have enjoyed their experience with service and learned from it. They also liked the fact that they weren't sitting on the sidelines, but actively trying to make lives better.

Brock Hammers works in the food pantry at St. Denis in Benton. (Submitted photo)

"I absolutely loved it," Kester said, adding it wasn't quite what he expected since the students from New York didn't make it. "But honestly, I enjoyed it so much. One of the best experiences I've had so far this year was that service week because I got to spend a lot of time with some classmates" he knows, but doesn't normally hang out with.

"It was cool to get to spend the holiday time with them and also get a lot of things accomplished for people in need around our community," Kester said.

Students also learned, in Kester's words, that "poverty doesn't discriminate. It's everywhere."

In fall semester of senior theology, Strohmeyer said, the class talks about Christian service and social justice.

"So we talk about that kind of stuff like invisible poverty to try and open children's eyes to say, even though you don't see it, the people living next door to you may be struggling ... ," she said.

Caleb Kester works at the food bank at St. Denis in Benton during service week in February. (Submitted photo)

Service projects are chosen through Strohmeyer's connections. "I just call up people and see who might need help with something," she said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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