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Pictured above: The main room at the Shirley Landry Benson PACE Center is in the former nave of St. Cecilia Church in Bywater. Teen volunteers are being sought for a week of service at PACE in which they will enjoy fellowship, games and other activities with senior guests who use the Catholic Charities-affiliated health and recreation facility. (Photos by Frank J. Methe and Beth Donze, Clarion Herald; and courtesy of Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New Orleans)
By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald
The difference: SERVE’s carefully crafted, week-long service opportunities put volunteers into direct contact with those on the receiving end of their help, while built-in time for prayer and reflection time helps the young people connect their hands-on work to their faith.
“(SERVE volunteers) get to see the face of the person that they’re serving,” said Self, director of volunteers for Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, of SERVE, whose name is an acronym for Students Engaged in Reflective Volunteer Service.
For example, after reflecting on a project in which the SERVE teens packed and distributed food boxes, “several of our volunteers said, ‘It was hot; it was cold; my hands were hurting,’” Self recalled. “But (seeing the actual recipients toward the end of their shift) made them feel, ‘I can push through this pain; I can push through this cold; I can push through this heat – because what I'm doing is helping someone.’”Grew out of Hurricane Katrina
Established in 2009 as a way to give high school students summertime opportunities to take part in the post-Katrina rebuilding of New Orleans, SERVE has shepherded nearly 1,000 teenage volunteers through more than 33,600 hours of interactive service to their community in areas ranging from housing to food insecurity to homelessness.
This summer, SERVE’s two week-long sessions are focusing on outreach to low-income seniors. The first session was completed last month, while the second session, scheduled for July 17-21, is still seeking volunteers (see below for information on how to register).• The first SERVE session, which unfolded June 5-9, had a dozen Archbishop Shaw students filling daily three-hour shifts at Catholic Charities’ Food for Seniors center in Harvey. In addition to packing boxes with non-perishable dairy products, grains, canned vegetables, fruit, soups and stews, the young volunteers staffed the facility’s drive-thru line, manually distributing the provisions to Food for Seniors’ clients. The Harvey site is one of 120 Food for Seniors locations throughout Louisiana that provides a monthly box of supplemental food to people ages 60 and older who meet USDA income guidelines for assistance.
• During the week of July 17-21, volunteers who have signed up for SERVE’s second session will bring their youthful energy to another Catholic Charities-affiliated agency: the Shirley Landry Benson PACE Center, a bright and airy hub offering health and recreational services to seniors every weekday at 4201 North Rampart St., in the city’s Bywater neighborhood. The SERVE crew of volunteers, who will assist daily at PACE from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., will offer fellowship to guests, accompany them on their daily walks and join their elders in activities such as board games, Bingo and tai chi. Self also is planning an “around-the-world” activity in which the volunteers will conduct country-based learning activities with their senior friends and sample foods from the countries.
Although the 2007-established Benson PACE Center – and its Hope Haven sister site in Marrero – offer seniors a comprehensive program of primary and specialty physician care, rehabilitative therapy and personal-care services, the SERVE volunteers will not be involved in the health-care side of center services, Self said.
“It's not our job to take care of them (medically). It’s our job to interact with them, and so we'll do any number of activities that they have for us to do,” she said, adding that PACE’s “phenomenal” recreation staff is adept at breaking the ice between the teenage volunteers and their elders.
“They totally make you feel at ease,” Self said.
Another bonus to volunteering there is the site itself – the facility has won prestigious architectural awards for its adaptive reuse of the former St. Cecilia Church and its retention of church features in both its interior and exterior.
“The first time I stepped inside I was blown away, because it's a church building set up in a way I could have never imagined it could be set up,” Self said.
Of course, SERVE’s best ambassadors are the teenage volunteers themselves.
Leah Patterson, a rising sophomore at St. Mary’s Dominican High School, said her participation in last summer’s SERVE program gave her the opportunity “to help people who really need it.” Leah said she was excited about returning to the program later this month as a PACE volunteer.
“Last year, when I worked at Second Harvest packing potatoes in the freezers, just knowing that I was part of helping to feed so many people made the work so meaningful,” Leah said. “Everyone I worked with during last summer’s program was extremely kind and dedicated to the mission.”Links volunteer work with Christ’s call
Also setting SERVE apart from other volunteer programs is the intentional way it builds daily prayer and reflection time into participants’ service experience.
“Our prayer centers on what we’re doing, whether that’s feeding the hungry, whether that's caring for the elderly – whatever that week’s theme is,” Self said. “We pray, we talk about what we're doing, we talk about the importance of being respectful of the people we’re serving, such as making sure we’re packing the food boxes in a way that makes the recipient know that the person who packed them cares. The food is not just thrown in the box.”
Self said the group also talks about serving a purpose greater than themselves.
“We're all called to be of service to one another," she said. “Throughout the day, while we're serving, if I see a moment to interject something, I will.”
On July 25, those who took part in one or both service sessions will gather at the archdiocese’s CYO office to share what they learned.
“It’s a day where we can get together, play some fun icebreaker games and talk about Catholic social teaching,” Self said. “It’s their opportunity to sit as a group and reflect on what they did and get a bigger picture of why they did it.”
Self said SERVE exposes teens to Catholic Charities’ wide array of volunteer opportunities available not just during the summer, but throughout the year, in the hope “they will come back and volunteer for us again.”
“Things are opening up after COVID. We’re able to bring more volunteers into places,” Self said, noting that younger volunteers bring a special brand of hope to the world.
“It's not just about the hours; it's about the impact that you’re making in the client, in yourself, in the community at large – because the community sees our volunteers,” Self said. “Watching high school students volunteer somewhere just warms your heart, especially when older adults see them. When we were in Harvey, and the students were loading boxes into the cars, every person who came through that line said, ‘Y'all are doing a great job!’ ‘Keep it up!’ or ‘We're so excited to see y’all!’”
Self welcomes inquiries from those considering individual or group volunteer opportunities with SERVE and other outreach efforts affiliated with Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New Orleans. Requirements such as the volunteer’s age, supervision, service frequency and other eligibility factors depend on the volunteer setting. To learn more about volunteer opportunities for all ages, email Self at [email protected]. Catholic Charities’ volunteer portal is available online at ccano.volunteerhub.com.