| Below you'll find location wrap-ups, complete with stories, photos, and thank yous sent to us by the organizations our volunteers worked with. Those who have not done so already may email photos and video clips of their Lasallian Day of Service experience to webteam@smumn.edu, and we'll add them to this page. |
|
| San Miguel School - Back of the Yards Campus – Chicago |
|
 |
Participants:
- Thomas Sullivan
- Marianne Coogan
- Kimberly Krisman
- Fernando Martinez
- Ronald Severino
- Alex Downes-Borowski
- Nancy Ocampo
|
- Brittany Staver
- James Coogan
- Mark Coogan
- Robert Figliulo
- Richard Reedy
- Rosemary Severino
|
|
| Holy Family Rectory – Chicago |
|
 |
A note from Bo Rettig '77
On behalf of Saint Mary’s, please accept my thanks for all the hard work you all did yesterday at the Holy Family Rectory for the Lasallian Day of Service. I thought it was a great day and I walked away feeling like we contributed something tangible. I hope all of you feel the same way, too. Here’s the great crew we had doing this wonderful work: |
- John (’77) and Joanie (CST ’78) Domanico
- Joe (’87) Hettinger, Kara Hettinger, Taylor Schiltz, Amanda Lasso, Melissa George
- Don (’83) and Jack Invansek, and Jack’s friend Dan
- Bo (’77) and Debbie Rettig
- Martin Tew (’80)
- George (’65) and Cathy Valaika
- Josie Velasquez
After the SICP volunteers (Saint Ignatius parents) very kindly moved the furniture and demolished the closet, we got started. We were able to complete these tasks:
- Scrape and clean window jambs.
- Remove wallpaper, scrape loose plaster and paint from walls and ceiling.
- Patch small cracks with joint compound and sand. Only the north wall and northwest corner of the ceiling were sanded since the joint compound was still drying.
- Plaster large patches in the southeast corner (thank you, Marty!)
- Tape woodwork and shelf rails.
- Wrap window covering in plastic.
- Move all supplies back to the storage room.
We were lucky to have Marty Tew and Fenton who supplied the necessary skills, especially when it came to patching and plastering. Joe and his daughter Kara, and her friends Taylor, Amanda and Mel were very adaptable. They took on and successfully completed any task asked of them with great enthusiasm. Don’s wife may not believe he is as adept in home improvement projects as he is, but his son Jack can attest to it. Jack brought his friend Dan and they both did a great job of patching and scraping. George, Cathy, Josie, Joanie, and Debbie dug into the north, east and south walls and wrestled them all into submission. While we would have liked to have completed sanding and gotten to some painting, we got as far as we could considering the joint compound was still drying. At Pompei, where John very generously treated us to lunch, we agreed that Marty, being the contracting professional and perfectionist he is, may have been heading back to the rectory to finish up.
A special thank you to Greg Wrobel and Gini Marziani who got (and kept) us organized and kept us well supplied. The Holy Family Rectory has no better friends than Greg and Gini. It was a pleasure to meet and work with them.
Thank you all for all your hard work. It was a great day and I look forward to next year.
Take care,
Bo |
Saint Ingatius says thanks
On Behalf of the Saint Ignatius Parent Organization, we would like to thank all of your for your fabulous work in Holy Family Rectory. We are well aware of all the time constraints on our lives and we are grateful you chose Holy Family Rectory to spend your Lasallian Day of Service. I cannot tell you how moved we are at your generosity. The project is almost complete thanks to you all.
Mimsie and Andy O'Hara, Greg Wrobel, and Gini Marziani
We at Saint Ignatius thank each of you for the tremendous "gift" of service that you brought to our campus last Saturday. Our JVC members will soon be able to enjoy a much enhanced work space. You truly embody not only the spirit of the Christian Brothers, but also their call to action.
From all of us…. Thank you!
John Chandler
Vice President, Saint Ignatius College Prep |
|
| Project for Pride in Living (PPL) – Twin Cities |
 |
A note from Nate Semsch '04
We had an extremely productive day with PPL. Although we came up short on the alumni volunteers (5 showed up), we still got a majority of the work that PPL wanted to see get done, done! Our activities included: |
- Mulching of large oak tree
- Excavation, mulching, and planting of (2) rain gardens
- Mulching and planting of (4) foundation gardens (at the corners of the "imaginary" house on the site)
- Tilling, Mulching, planting, and fencing of a 1,500 square foot garden that will be used to sustain future landscaping needs of new developments and rehabilitations of existing homes
- Tilling and seeding of a large natural prairie grass area
There was additional volunteers from PPL, the landscaping company that designed the gardens, and the neighborhood that worked on the project as well. The weather was perfect for the work we were doing – the sun went hiding behind the clouds after 9 a.m., but it didn’t rain and that’s all we cared about! PPL is a wonderful organization that is working to make some huge changes in the worst neighborhoods of the Minneapolis area. The executive director of PPL, Steve Kraemer, stopped by to thank everyone for their hard work. I think we have found a wonderful long term partnership for future LaSallian Days of Service.
Participants:
- Sarah Carew
- Jeremy Tok
- Cheryl Jandrich
- Barb Hall
- Nathan Semsch
Sincerely,
Nathan Semsch |
|
| Feed my Starving Children - Chanhassen – Twin Cities |
|
 |
A note from Molly Murphy '97 - First shift leader
Feed My Starving Children was an awesome experience! Everyone that registered to volunteer came (expect my sister & nephew, who were sick). Tom Hendricks '61, who did not pre-register, came as well, so we had 12 total volunteers at 9 a.m. shift.
Our shift packed 19 thousand meals that will be sent to hungry children all over the world! The organization itself it very well organized and efficiently run by FMSC staff – they are a pleasure to work with. |
One of things that really touched me is that there were people of all ages helping – from the elderly man (who was not with SMU) who was labeling bags, to the high school honor roll students who created an atmosphere of competition which helped motivate all of us to pack more meals!
I hope we continue to work with this organization; it was really incredible.
Participants:
- Molly Murphy
- F.H. Sherry
- Beth Gruenke
- Debra Hyllested
- Mary Christine (Kissy) Noll Larson
- Kirk Taylor
- Jack Crumm
- Pam Joachim
- Tony Gruenke
- Brett Larson
- Mary Taylor
- Sandra Schmunk
A note from Grace (Wojski '77) McNamara - Second shift leader
Our group shift packed over 20,000 meals which will effectively feed 57 children/people for one year! The organizers said that we packed double what the usual shift packed. We had a great time and very rewarding experience!
Participants:
- Mike Dougherty
- Katie Krueger
- John Zimmerman
- Sasha Denisova
- Grace McNamara
- Frank Basset
- Antastacia Sontag
- John Joyce
- Sean McCool
Best,
Grace |
|
 |
SMU's "Make a Difference Day"
with Current Students - Winona |
|
|
|
| DIY - Organize your own service project – A site near you! |
Unfortunately, no one contacted us to say they were organizing their own Lasllian Day of Service project. It is our hope that next year, and for many years to come, we will have groups of alumni and friends volunteering at Lasallian organizations across the country.
For more information on how you can get involved in the future, please contact the Alumni Office at (800) 635-5987, Ext. 1499, or alumni@smumn.edu. |