Students from Gabriel Richard High School volunteer each month at Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit as one of their many Christian outreach projects. (Courtesy of Cheryl Knapp)RIVERVIEW — Like all teenagers, students at Gabriel Richard Catholic High School in Riverview are busy with homework, extracurricular activities and friends, but they also devote many hours to helping those in need.
Through Gabriel Richard’s Christian Outreach Program, students in grades 10-12 must complete 12 hours of community service per school year. Most contribute far beyond this goal.
The school offers more than a dozen volunteer opportunities in a variety of areas, from working in soup kitchens to visiting refugees at a shelter in Detroit.
Cheryl Knapp is the director of campus ministry.
“We offer a wide range of choices so that students will find something they can be passionate about, because then they’ll continue serving others into adulthood,” Knapp said.
Senior Lauren Trythall enjoys children and felt she would be most useful in a setting that helps families with children. She volunteers for Starfish Family Services, where she plays with and reads to children from families in vulnerable situations.
“I believe I’ll continue to volunteer as an adult because I enjoy helping those in need,” Trythall said. “Hopefully I could volunteer at an organization like Starfish.”
Students from Gabriel Richard High School in Riverview, including Jac Lemieux (far right), install flooring in a home for Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County. (Courtesy of Cheryl Knapp)The number of volunteer hours logged by the students demonstrates their passion for service. Most exceed their requirement for service hours each year. Last year, one senior graduated with a total of 670 hours of service over his four years at Gabriel Richard.
Mandy Hall, a senior, is the president of the school’s newly formed St. Vincent de Paul conference. Gabriel Richard is the first standalone student chapter in the state of Michigan, not affiliated with a parish. This year alone, Hall has already given 30 hours of service through the school, as well as an additional 70 hours volunteering at a hospital.
“I enjoy volunteering so much because I love to be able to see that just the couple of hours makes such a huge impact in someone’s life,” Hall said. “Knowing that what I do improves someone’s life makes me want to volunteer many more times and in many different areas.”
Jac Lemieux is also a senior at Gabriel Richard and chose Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County as his main focus for outreach. He has laid wood floors, framed houses and even constructed a porch. Lemieux volunteers monthly because he likes the organizational model of Habitat for Humanity, with homeowners working alongside volunteers on their own home, as well as working on other homes in the program.
“So many people watch the news and instantly feel that the world is a bad place, but organizations like Habitat give me a very positive outlook on the world,” Lemieux said. “It makes me realize that even though a person may fall on hard times, the community can always help them find their way.”
Sophomore Lauren Williams volunteers for Catholic Heart Work Camp and for Snow Angels, a program in which the students shovel snow for an elderly member of the community.
“I chose Snow Angels because I know that there are people who aren’t as able as I am, and I like helping people out as much as I can,” Williams said. “I think that this ministry is important because I doubted many students were going to sign up, and I am the type of person to do jobs that people don’t like.”
Volunteers from the school make an annual trip to Freedom House in Detroit, a home for refugees from around the world who are seeking asylum in the U.S. and Canada. Knapp says the work with Freedom House is a “ministry of presence” in which students and faculty share a meal with the residents and talk with them to learn about their situations and offer support.
When she posts the sign-up sheet for this yearly outreach, it fills almost immediately.
“One year when I couldn’t go with the group, a teacher came back and was crying because while they were there, one of the people found out they got their asylum,” Knapp said. “She said it was an incredible experience for her and for the kids, to be there to hear the news. It became a celebration day.”
The culture at the school is that of serving others as a way of living the Gospel, Knapp says, and students agree.
“As a Catholic school I find it very fitting that we serve very poor people much like Jesus did in his time,” Lemieux said. “The outreach program at Gabriel Richard is the highlight of my experience because it brings the students directly into the community.”
