“Love cannot remain by itself — it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service.” This quote from Mother Teresa inspires people worldwide to live out their lives with community service.
Xavier encourages its students to devote themselves to service for others. Several juniors demonstrated just that this year through their involvement with the Saving Amy non-profit organization.
A single mother of four, Amy was an actual person who lived in a homeless shelter. Her life was full of hardships until she met Jennifer Kiernan.
Kiernan founded Saving Amy in June of 2015. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, Saving Amy’s mission is to provide hope and encouragement to individuals transitioning from homelessness through mentorship, education and employment.
Within Saving Amy, there are four programs whose goals are to empower families through empathy and compassion. This year, Xavier’s juniors were actively involved in the Kids Go program, which provides year-round mentoring and tutoring. Their motto is “Let kids be kids.”
Kiera Basco ‘24, a junior who volunteered for the Kids Go program, spent a lot of time with children going through this transition out of homelessness. She says, “I impacted these kids’ days by doing activities with them that they can look forward to.”
High school volunteers would pick up these kids from their homes and take them to fun adventures like bowling alleys, the movies, trampoline parks, museums and more. At the same time, they would act as role models for these kids to look up to and create loving relationships with them.
“We gave the kids opportunities to have fun. They’ve been going through a lot in both their home lives and their school lives, so seeing them have fun and feel loved impacted me by showing me how to find true happiness in the simple things in life,” said Alexis Angeles ‘24.
Along with taking the kids on fun adventures, Xavier’s volunteers encouraged them to pursue all of their dreams.
Olivian Clennan ‘24 says, “Sometimes they feel like they are not seen and understood. Through volunteering, I can help them be seen and tell them they can be anything they want, even if someone told them they weren’t in the right situation.”
“As a Saving Amy volunteer, I helped these kids learn and grow as people and gave them hope,” said Maya Nagaraj ‘24.
Another impact junior volunteers of Saving Amy made was helping them improve their grades and stay on top of their school work. Clennan said, “My favorite part about volunteering was being able to help kids who can’t afford a tutor. I helped one kid go from a C to an A.”
Xavier’s juniors positively changed the lives of kids experiencing something no person that young should have to experience, homelessness. Saving Amy volunteers instilled hope for futures.
“I loved seeing the smiles on their faces as we provided them with memorable experiences,” said Basco.
