It's also where you will find a particular group of students hard at work every week.
“It’s living the gospel. It’s their mission statement”, says Fresno Diocese Bishop Joseph Brennan. “I’m over the moon happy when i see these kids here.”
“The kids", Bishop Brennan is talking about are the students of San Joaquin Memorial High Schools Service Club, and "here" is serving the homeless at the Poverello House, but the story of their return is a bit of a miracle itself, and the school's connection to the Poverello House is an even bigger one.
After more than three decades of faithful service, when the covid pandemic hit, the club's visits came to an abrupt stop
“Covid altered what we could do,” says English and Religion teacher and Service Club Moderator Carlie Frye. “Service is part of our mission at Memorial and when we had remote learning and all activities were canceled we were in a situation of what do we do”.
The club still met virtually and would do service projects donate products from home, but they soon noticed, without the direct, personal contact with each other and the people they served, something was missing
“It was overwhelming because we all realized how much we need human interaction not just virtually but in person,” explained Frye.
At the same time, Poverello House staff also noticed something missing. Most of its help!
“Right away when Covid hit we lost about 60% of our volunteers,” revealed Poverello House CEO Zack Darrah.
Call it what you will, but the Poverello House's need for help and the students need to serve again became the answer to both their prayers.
“Having these students here doing this work really helped us through the hardest times,” says Darrah.
“It was really a beacon of hope for the kids and me when we were allowed to come back, even in the thick of online learning we came here and served,” Frye related, and through their giving to others, the students say they found something too.
“It's great to have the direct communication with people and the encounter. it's amazing,” gushed an enthusiastic Roxie Richburg.
Talyn McCaslin says it was the impact on the people they served that lifted her spirits too. “I've seen people's day brighten up and if they’re sad like we can just make their day.”
“As we were working one of the residents came in and started singing with us, so that was really nice,” remembered Jacob Zarate.
For Spencer Douangphouxay, it was the laughter. “There's a lot of laughs. a lot of smiles, and it's very inspiring to see students just like me there able to make change no matter what age you are at.
“Everyone has a story. Everyone has a reason why they’re here,” says Frye.
Poverello House CEO Zack Darrah knows his reason for being here and exactly where and when he found it two decades ago.
“I remember back in 2000, 2001 when I served as a member of the S Club back at Memorial here at Poverello House, and here I am today doing this work, you know, 20, 21 years later. It makes a deep impact and lasting impact on a young person’s life."
21 years later, Carlie Frye, Darrah's former classmate at San Joaquin Memorial, also remembers what kindled her flame.
“When I went to Memorial I was in the S Club. I was president actually and i believe in service my whole life and that really actualized my passion even more.”
Passion, Frye says, for the people she gets to serve, and for someone else who she says comes to meet her every time.
“God, all the time. It’s an encounter with God for me.”
Darrah says Poverello House serves hot meals to over a million people a year and sees thousands and thousands of people every single week. He also says they could not do what they do everyday at Poverello House without the amazing people of San Joaquin Memorial High School and it's Service Club and the Diocese of Fresno.
If you would like to donate or volunteer at Poverello House... you can contact Poverello House for that information.
You can also use the links below which will take you to Poverello House’s webpages for ways to give and how to get involved as a volunteer.
https://poverellohouse.org/get-involved/ways-to-give
https://poverellohouse.org/get-involved/volunteer
If you have a story to tell about a crisis in your child's school or classroom, or how students, parents and teachers are working together to overcome challenges, call us at 559-302-9242 or email us at kmph-classroom tips @gmail.com.
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