Junior/Senior HS—Service Ministry

Catholic Central Service Day | Cookie Project | J-Term Service Ministry | Partners in Ministry

An important aspect of our Catholic Central Schools' mission is community service. Our students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni actively support a variety of community efforts. Service Ministry at Catholic Central Jr. /Sr. High School is an opportunity for students to fulfill their service mission—to give back to their community and to follow Our Lord's way. Providing service to others by working with community service-based organizations, the students:

· Work with others who have devoted their lives in service to others.

· Develop leadership skills as they organize and lead service projects.

· Grow in their faith as they answer the call to serve.

During the 2008-2009 school year, our students in grades 7-12 volunteered over 11,000 hours of service for over 70 nonprofit organizations and individuals, valued at over $200,000. (estimated value of a volunteer hour $18.04, Newsweek 7/3/06)

If you would like to volunteer, host Catholic Central student volunteers at your organization, or make a donation to help with costs of the service ministry program, please contact the Service Coordinator, Marcia Roth at 325-9204, ext 246 or email to mroth@ccirish.org.

Downloads
Long Term Service Form
Short Term Service Form
Service Project Proposal

Catholic Central Service Day

On Friday, April 11, 2008 the students and faculty of Catholic Central worked throughout Springfield in sunshine and rain.  Our Service Day mission statement on the back of our shirts proclaimed our purpose:

“God has given us so much.  Now it’s our turn to give back.

We are Catholic Central, following in the footsteps of Christ.”

Five senior high school teams spent the day at Kenwood, Perrin Woods, Snyder Park, and Horace Mann Elementary Schools.  They tutored children, taught lessons, organized field day activities, and read books with students.  They gave new books to kindergarten, first and second grade students.  At Perrin Woods, a second team also spent the day teaching Junior Achievement Business Basics to classes.

Five senior high school teams also worked with Changing Lives Now, The Children’s Rescue Center, Interfaith Hospitality Network, Public School Outreach Teen Center, the American Cancer Society, and three local nursing homes (Eaglewood, Forest Glen, and Villa).  These students helped with renovations on buildings which will be used for community outreach and to serve the homeless.  Students also picked up trash, went door to door with food and information, distributed yard signs for the Relay for Life, and spent time visiting with nursing home residents.   

Three junior high school teams walked to Elderly United, St. Raphael Church, St. Bernard Church, and the Klutter Kloset storage site, where they cleaned and sorted donations.  Three junior high teams remained at the High Street campus, making cards for homebound elderly residents, creating blankets for displaced children served by Project Woman, and working on cleanup and landscaping projects for Catholic Central.

One student commented, “The best part of Service Day for me was when a young student named Deric came up to me, handed me his nametag and said, “Hayden, today was one of the best days of my life, so here’s my nametag because I hope you will never forget about me, because I will never forget about you.”

Any parents or community members who would like to be a part of Catholic Central Service Day 2009 as a parent volunteer, donor, or nonprofit partner site are encouraged to contact Service Coordinator Marcia Roth, at mroth@ccirish.org or 937-325-9204 ext 246.

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Cookie Project
"I was in prison, and you visited me..." - Jesus
Each fall and spring, Catholic Central Junior and Senior High students have an opportunity to spread God's love by baking cookies for the Kairos retreats held for the inmates at Lebanon Correctional Facility. Students can earn 1 hour of service towards their short-term project total for every dozen cookies they bake and turn in according to the project guidelines. Catholic Central students bake over 100 dozen cookies and pray for the inmates and retreat leaders.

This fall, the Lebanon Correctional Facility Kairos Retreat will take place September 18-21.  Cookies may be turned in outside the main office at Catholic Central on Tuesday, Sept 9 by 8am.

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J-Term Service Ministry
During our January term, CCHS students have the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and spirituality through our J-term Service Ministry class. Students spend two days each morning volunteering in local urban ministries and schools, and three days each morning in discussion, reflection, and planning for the upcoming Service Day.

In 2008:

• -15 students were assigned in teams of three to volunteer at five Springfield City elementary schools (Kenwood, Snyder Park, Lincoln, Horace Mann, and Perrin Woods), where they volunteered 2 mornings a week all month.  

  -6 students spent those mornings working on cleaning and renovating buildings (often without heat in freezing temperatures) to be used for outreach ministry by Changing Lives Now Ministries and Public School Outreach for Christ. 

  -Together, the students volunteered a total of 315 hours during January.  At the end of the course, every single student named the service experiences as one of the best parts of the course.

  -All 21 students wrote and shared their testimonies.  Each one described to the class how they had learned about God through their experiences and relationships.  To conclude, each student described what being a Christian means to him/her, and why he or she chooses to follow Jesus today. 

  -The students set goals and developed a step-by-step plan to achieve the goals, both for the school wide Service day event and for the small group projects they were planning for their teams.  We met as a group during February and March to review the progress in the steps toward the Service Day goals.

  -75% of J-term service ministry students agreed that the class helped them to strengthen their own relationship with God.  90% of student agreed that the class challenged them to think more about who God is and what it means to serve God in life.

  25 students completed the J-term Service Ministry Course. The students gave a total of 350 hours volunteering at Springfield City Elementary schools and Changing Lives Now Ministries.
• During class time, students developed their leadership skills (planning and organizing, leading small group discussions, public speaking, etc) and spirituality (prayer, Scripture reading and reflection, writing and sharing testimonies, etc).
• Students obtained $1000 in grant money with youth-written and youth-presented proposals to Youth as Resources for Service Day.

Student Comments:

“What I have learned most about Christian leadership during J-Term is to be like Jesus in as many ways possible…. Every day you have an opportunity to be a leader whether it’s at work doing your best, at school doing what is right, or at home helping out with anything you can.  I’ve learned so much in this class about Christian leadership that I feel that it has helped me grow in both my leadership and my relationship with God.”

“Overall during this program, I think God has been teaching me to trust, to have trust in others, Him, and in myself.  Writing and sharing my testimony made me really trust everyone in the class… I also learned that Jesus is always there for me, no matter where I am, and I think that I really began to realize that I can always go to Him for someone to talk to and I know and can trust that he is there listening.  Also, I really built some trust in myself.  Talking in front of a group has always been hard for me… [In] taking this course… I think I did a good job for the most part of doing this.”

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Partners in Ministry

Looking for ideas for service projects?  Here are 70+ organizations recently served by Catholic Central Jr./Sr. High School volunteers:

21 Partnerships in which teens are engaged in the church and/or faith-based outreach: Ark-children's Rescue Center Catholic Social Services Changing Lives Now Ministries Faith Tabernacle Church Hoge Memorial Presbyterian Church Grace Lutheran Church Immaculate Conception Church Interfaith Hospitality Network Lebanon Prison Kairos Retreat Mary Help of Christians Church Nehemiah  Foundation Public School Outreach for Christ Rainbow Table Sacred Heart Church St. Bernard Church St. Joseph/St. Raphael Church St. Mary Church St. Teresa Church St. Vincent DePaul Society Second Harvest Food Bank Sikh Society of Dayton 14 Schools and Children's Programs: Big Brothers/Big Sisters Buckeye Trails/Girl Scouts of America Camp Birch/Boy Scouts of America Catholic Central Elementary Catholic Youth Organization Catholic Central Jr./Sr. High School Head Start Help Me Grow JPA Summer Putt Putt JV Summer Volleyball League Nightingale Montessori Medway Elementary School On The Rise Springfield City Schools, including Kenwood, Horace Mann, Lincoln, Perrin Woods, Snyder Park

12 Health and Medical Agencies: American Cancer Society Community Hospital Mercy Medical Center Mercy McAuley Center Rocking Horse Center Clark Memorial Home Elderly United Eaglewood Care Center Forest Glen Nursing Home Ridgewood Nursing Home Mercy St. John's Center Villa Nursing Home 21 Other Community Organizations: Afghans for Afghans American Red Cross Army Corps of Engineers/CJ Brown Reservoir Champaign County Library Ever Start Hearth and Home Humane Society Junior Achievement King Kennels Knights of Columbus Leadership Academy Project Woman Springfield Charity Horse Show Springfield Museum of Art Un mundo Cafe Urbana Police Department Westcott House Wings of Love Crusade Wright patterson AFB YMCA of Champaign County YMCA of Springfield

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