JACKSON – The Holy Family Parish Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) has reorganized after a few years of dormancy. One of their first projects was to plan, prepare and serve a meal at Stewpot on Sunday, Sept. 6.
Three members of the group are preparing for confirmation. “This is a very humbling place. It reminds us of how fortunate we are and all God has blessed us with because there are some people who don’t have all we have,” said group member Rodney Self.
The teens planned the menu and prepared all of the food except the main dish. They recruited adult volunteers to make the spaghetti with meat sauce. The group plans another visit to Stewpot, a fall festival for neighborhood children and a project with the Gleaners in the coming months.
Holy Family pastor Father Xavier Amirtham, OPraem, who pitched in to help with the Stewpot project, said he is pleased to see the students step up to do service projects. He said projects like this expose them to the real needs of communities close to home. “So they can understand the needs and the struggles of the people in this area. They better understand their responsibility to social justice and we see their need to do works of charity and I think they learn something,” said Father Amirtham.