We work with a lot of youth and young adults, helping them with schooling, scholarships, sports programs, and living lives of virtue. To us, it is very important to provide them with opportunities to serve those in need right in their own neighborhoods as a way to put love into action.
One of the service projects we invite young people to participate in is to take groceries to those in need. We not only bring the people supplies, which the youth can see are such a necessary help, but we also visit with the folks and try to brighten their day. Many of these people are old, sick or homebound, and to see the teens with their smiles and zest for life brings them such joy
It is a win-win situation, because while it helps the recipients who are need of help, and it brings a cheerful visit to a lonely, isolated person, it is also a great benefit to these young people. You can see the joy in their faces, and they often share how much fun they had on these outreaches.
There are so many challenges these young people face in their world filled with violence, extreme poverty, drugs, and gang warfare. But we try to teach our teens, as the Christophers say, that “it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”
Involving the youth with love in action is a beautiful way to light some candles in their dark world.