James Bendele, Ministry Lead for the Marianist Family Encounters Project at Central Catholic, San Antonio, TX, sends us this update.
This past Friday (5-5-2023) a group of Guardian Angels from Central Catholic volunteered at Respite Care of San Antonio. It was our last service project of the year. Respite Care of SA is a facility for children with special needs and much of their staff is elderly. They needed A LOT of help moving furniture around. Consequently, Rebecca Helterbrand (CEO and President) reached out to several other high schools in the archdiocese asking for help. There was one student from one of the other archdiocesan schools who showed up to help. However, it was the guys from Central Catholic (along with one Provet Guardian Angel) who came up big.
This warms my heart knowing that we have guys here that are willing to put in the extra mile for community service. This also really solidifies the fact that Guardian Angels is the premier service organization in the entire archdiocese!
This year alone we have had 45 service projects and drives. That comes out to approximately 3,375 hours of community service performed by our 2022-23 Guardian Angels! That basically meant we had something going on almost every week! Props to these young men for balancing their commitment to service along with other extracurriculars, sports, and academics. Some of our favorite service projects this year were at the Mission San Juan Community Garden, Haven for Hope, the San Antonio Food Bank, the Saddle Light Center, the Basura Bash, and the St. Gregory’s Christmas Menudo Festival! Along the way, we still filled up buses with canned goods, coats, and toys while also collecting $3,000 in loose change for our Lenten Drive! Our guys put in a GREAT year of community service!
A very special recognition goes out to seniors Paul Garcia and Felix Castillo. These two gentlemen led with class and with big hearts. They will be missed. In the meantime, though, we have a wonderful group of underclassmen who are ready to accept the challenge of being true student servant leaders next year and beyond!
Pictured from left to right: Adele Bendele, Analiyah Olivarez, Sam Hernandez, Ryan Ramos, Thad Clarke, Felix Castillo, Paul Garcia, Joaquin Tanjuatco, Noah Flores, Ben Brown, & Ben Mora
Bottom picture: Paul Garcia and Felix Castillo