Since 2009, 926 high school students have volunteered one or more weeks each summer at various local Catholic Charities\u2019 programs and non-profits that serve the poor and vulnerable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This summer, 56 students representing 17 high schools completed 1,108 hours sorting food donations at Second Harvest Food Bank, assisting the homeless at Ozanam Inn and visiting senior adults at CCANO\u2019s Greenwalt and PACE adult day health centers. Their service was worth $28,176, said Shannon Murphy, CCANO\u2019s director of volunteers.<\/p>\n Two 2019 SERVE participants, Tyler Gaubert of Brother Martin and Rebekah Haase of St. Mary\u2019s Dominican, share their experiences in this issue.<\/p>\n I helped by folding clothes, towels and bedsheets, making sandwiches and helping clean and organize the pantry in the kitchen.<\/p>\n Meeting other students from other high schools who want to help serve the city\u2019s homeless was also a part of the experience of volunteering at Ozanam Inn. I saw how difficult the living conditions are for the homeless and hungry, along with the hardships they go through with different kinds of addictions, such as drugs and alcohol, which makes it easy for them to fall back into their old habits.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My attitude toward the hungry and homeless has changed in a way that I now have more empathy toward those who are on the streets, homeless and hungry. This experience has also given me more respect for them because they lost everything, and, yet, they try to get back on their feet.<\/p>\n This was shown through some of the staff at Ozanam Inn, because some of the workers themselves were homeless once.<\/p>\n I chose SERVE because it was recommended to me by my religion teacher whom I trust, and because of the great work they were doing for others. SERVE has exceeded my expectations because I was able to help the homeless in different ways than I had thought I could. SERVE also exceeded my expectations because it allowed me to see how the homeless and hungry live. It also gave me a yearning to help others.<\/p>\n This is the first time I have worked with SERVE, and I am thinking about working with SERVE again in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clarionherald.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/servetylergaubertselfiesquare.-200x300.jpg\")
\nTyler Gaubert<\/strong>, 15, a Brother Martin High School sophomore, volunteered at Ozanam Inn, a homeless shelter that feeds, shelters and gives comfort to the hungry and homeless.<\/i><\/p>\n
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