To serve is a true gift for the receiver and giver.

Cary, N. C. – Tired of hearing bad news? Rotten kids? Crime? Selfishness? Economic disaster?

There is a lot that goes on in this community that is, well, “good”.  Random and anonymous acts of kindness,  selfless donations of time and money, kids building character by helping others.

St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church sponsors programs that foster these charitable acts.  No big foundations, no adult chairpersons running the show – just caring people quietly guiding each other and sharing their own blessings.

As part of  the two year ”confirmation”  process, St. Michael’s provides guidance to 300 14-18 year-olds to share their gifts.  When I asked Dr. Nina Rizzo, Associate Director High School Youth Ministry, what was going on with the Youth Programs I was blown away.

First I should explain “Confirmation”.  Dr. Rizzo defines Confirmation (along with Baptism and Eucharist) as a ”Catholic sacrament of initiation”.  She told me that “Confirmation, like Baptism, imprints a spiritual mark or indelible character on our soul; for this reason you can receive this sacrament only once”.

Nina leads these youths to understand his/her commitment to the life and mission of the Church.  The goal is to have formed teens that are ready “to lead a life of prayer, worship, and service“.  “Youth are expected to fulfill at least two group service projects per year.”  Dr. Rizzo told me that in other similar positions her office phone would ring and parents would ask, “do you have any service work my teen can do?”  So Nina adopted the philosophy to stress that these projects should not be once-in-a-lifetime “chores” to fulfill “a requirement”,  but rather to have service to the community evolve into a “way of life”.

“I wanted to create service opportunities where teens learn, participate, and experience service with the community.  Hopefully this experience would lead to an understanding that service is not a ‘requirement’ but a way of seeing, acting, and being in the world.”

Some Examples

The Brown Bag Ministry and Helen Wright Women’s Shelter are about preparing meals for the hungry and homeless.  Most importantly, these projects provide opportunities for the teens to meet the people they are serving.  For the Brown Bag Ministry 1,000 lunches are boxed, they then drive to Moore Square and distribute the lunches.  At the Helen Wright Shelter, after cooking the food they serve about 40 women at the Shelter and sit with them afterwards.  Teens get an up-close and personal encounter with the poor and needy.   There are an amazing number of hungry people in our own community.  We often think of poverty as some distant problem that only takes place in third world countries.  It’s right here on our own doorstep.  As for the teens, they begin to recognize how richly blessed they are.  Now when they complain that “there’s no food in this house!” teens realize the abundance of food that their parents provide.

Nina tells this story.  Lizzie Mayhew, a participant, started out Saturday morning with her classmates to the Brown Bag Ministry.  She was tired and wished she could have slept in.  Together they bagged lunches – plain and simple – two slices of white bread, one slice of bologna and cheese, a granola bar, and apple.  They drove to Moore Square and immediately a line of men approached the table seeking a ticket stub to receive a lunch.  Many, many lunches were given out.  A man approached the table asking for a lunch but didn’t have a ticket.  He was told that if lunches left over, he could come back and get one.  Lizzie kept an eye out for him.  Extra lunches were set out on the table and people came running to grab them.  Lizzie knew that if she didn’t take one then, the man would never get a lunch.  Quickly she grabbed a lunch, ran over to the man, and tapped him on the shoulder.  He swung around to see her arm extended holding out a boxed lunch.  Lizzie later told us that his eyes beamed with joy and gratitude.  This man made her feel wonderful inside.  But at the same time, she couldn’t believe how a plain sandwich could bring such happiness.  At that moment, she knew how lucky she was. Lizzie has been back several times on an early Saturday morning to fix brown bag lunches.

At Christmas time, the “divide” between the needy and those that have plenty become magnified.  The children make and distribute Thanksgiving baskets,  collect and give out toys through the ”Jesse Tree” (a tree is put in the church lobby with names of children hung on it like ornaments to pick, thereby sponsoring that child), and collecting used bicycles for needy families in the community as part of St. Mike’s Bikes.

Many of the teens are open about the joy it gives them. One of the teens, Steven Santoro, told Dr. Rizzo,  “I learned that not everyone is doing as well as I am.  I feel different now – I feel that I made people happy which made me happy.”  Another student, Robert Gallo, was “inspired to see the amount of people who came out on a cold, rainy day to clean and repair bikes.”

The Miracle League is a service project in which the St. Michael Latino Confirmation class and the H.S. Confirmandees serve together.  Teens “buddy up” with a child with mental and physical challenges to help them to play baseball.  The most revealing lesson teens walk away from this experience is that joy doesn’t come from owning things.  There are people with serious challenges who can experience extreme joy in the simple game of baseball.

I bet not too many of you knew about all this.  It humbled and inspired me.

Please write to us and let us know about other similar activities that you know of that are going on in Cary – “faith-based” or not.  Or make comments below.  Let’s share that joy here in the CaryCitizen.