| |
|
|
|
|
Service & Social Justice Activities
|
|
Big Brothers
Description: For the past 14 years, Moeller and Corryville Catholic Elementary School have worked together to help meet the needs of the Corryville students. Big Brothers pairs Moeller juniors and seniors with students in grades 1-6 from Corryville Catholic in a one-on-one relationship. Contact between Bigs and Littles takes place outside of the school day.
Purpose: The Big Brother program seeks to provide mentors for young boys who are in need of extra guidance. Big Brothers seek to assist families by providing a positive role model for their child. A Big Brother seeks to build a long term, loving and caring relationship. For each child, a Big Brother sets positive expectations, promotes their strengths, teaches life and academic skills, provides enrichment activities and models responsible Christian behavior. Through a one-on-one relationship, a Big Brother aims to become of inspiration for his Little Brother.
*Commitment: During the course of the school year, a Big Brother is expected to spend at least 35 hours of contact time with his little brother. (This includes travel time with his little brother in the car.) Most of this time will come from participation in the monthly Big Brother group activities. Usually scheduled on Sunday afternoons, these activities will account for approximately 24 hours of the 35 hour commitment. The Big Brother will earn the remaining 11 hours by making phone calls, writing letters, and spending additional time with his little brother during the course of the year. All Big Brothers are also expected to participate in Christmas on Campus and Zoo Day.
A Big Brother should make weekly contact by phone call and is expected to send periodic letters. The time spent on the phone and writing letters can count towards their service requirement. Big Brothers are responsible for creating their own schedule and reporting their contact time to the leaders.
Service Hours: Students who successfully complete their commitment to this program will be awarded with 35 service hours.
Liability Issues: Each Big Brother and Little Brother family is required to sign a waiver of liability before any contact can be made. The waiver does not exclude the Moeller student from general responsibility, but from responsibilities beyond his control. Students participating in the Big Brother program will be picking up their Little Brothers at their child’s home, and transporting to and from the various activities. We encourage Big Brothers to carpool and to limit the amount of time spent in the car with their little brother.
Little Buddies
Description: Around 16 years ago Moeller created a partnership with Corryville Catholic Elementary School to help meet the needs of the Corryville students, and to provide Moeller students with opportunities to serve in the community. Working with students at Corryville in the classroom, during their school day, is one of these programs. The Little Buddies program pairs Moeller junior and seniors with students from Corryville Catholic in a particular class, grades pre-school through 3rd grade.
Purpose: The Little Buddies program seeks to provide assistance for young children, many whom are in need of extra guidance in their classes. The Moeller students seek to assist the children and the teachers by providing positive role models for the kids, and to assist in their education during the bi-weekly visits. The Moeller students seek to build long term, loving and caring relationships with the children in their class. For the children, their Moeller Buddy sets positive expectations, promotes their strengths, teaches life and academic skills, provides enrichment activities and models responsible Christian behavior. The men of Moeller become a source of inspiration for the children at Corryville and they really look forward to seeing their Moeller Buddies.
Commitment: During the course of the school year, Moeller students in the Little Buddies program are expected to commit to the time that they are assigned – either during A-1 or B-1 study hall in the morning, or A-4 study hall or M-block at the end of the school day. The visits will be schedule bi-weekly (twice a month.)
Service Hours: Students who successfully complete their commitment to the program – which includes the visits to Corryville, participation in Christmas on Campus, Zoo Day, and Cap and Gown Days, and don’t have any unexcused absences will be awarded with 35 service hours. Students who fail to meet the requirements may be asked to leave the program.
Corryville Mentoring
Description: Many students who attend Corryville Catholic participate in the after school program while they wait for their parents to pick them up on their way home from work. For many years, Moeller students have spent one afternoon a week playing with the younger kids in the after school program and mentoring the older students by helping them with homework and being a good role model.
Purpose: Moeller and MND students will be working together during our visits this year, and the time students invest in this program will pay great dividends. The Corryville students truly enjoy the high school friends they make and the Moeller and MND students become friends and heroes to the children at Corryville.
Commitment (NOTE CHANGES): We have approximately 26 Thursdays visits this year. Students chosen for this program are expected to commit to participating in 50% of the visits during the year - about 13 total visits during the year.
Service Hours: Students who successfully complete their commitment to this program will be awarded with 35 service hours.
Weekly Sign Up Process: Once you have been selected for the program, it will be the participant’s responsibility to write his name on the sign up sheets for this dates he chooses to go. All sign up sheets will be located in the Pastoral Ministry office. Note: There may be a limited number of spots available on a given week due to group size considerations and/or driving arrangements. We leave Moeller at 3:00 pm and return by 5:30 pm each visit.
Matthew 25 Ministries / St. Vincent DePaul
Description: Neighbors helping neighbors. That's what the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is all about - caring people helping their neighbors in need of the most basic necessities - food, shelter, clothing, transportation and emotional comfort. There are heartbreaking circumstances right here in our own community, but practical, compassionate person-to-person caring can make a world of difference. At St. Vincent de Paul, our goal is to deal with the initial emergency then shepherd individuals into programs that can bring lasting change into their lives. Donations made locally are used and distributed throughout Greater Cincinnati neighborhoods.
Matthew 25: Ministries is an international humanitarian relief organization helping the poorest of the poor locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. By rescuing and reusing products from major corporations, manufacturers and individuals, Matthew 25: Ministries provides basic necessities, skill development and disaster relief across the US and worldwide. Their offices are located on Kenwood Road in Blue Ash.
Service Hours: Students who successfully complete their commitment to this program will be awarded with 15 service hours, or possibly more depending on the level of involvement in other activities with St. Vincent de Paul and Matthew 25: Ministries during the year.
Sign Up Process: Once you have been selected for the program, it will be the participant’s responsibility to write his name on the sign up sheets for this dates he chooses to go. All sign up sheets will be located in the Pastoral Ministry office. Note: There may be a limited number of spots available on a given week due to group size considerations and/or driving arrangements.
Paper Recycling Program
Description: Moeller students are needed to assist with the weekly collection of scrap paper from each of the classrooms at Moeller. The paper can serve two purposes – good, clean paper with one blank side can be processed and reused by Moeller teachers and students (at home) or donated to people and organizations that will reuse the paper, and paper unable to be reused will be put in the Abitibi Paper Retriever dumpster to be recycled. In addition, our Pastoral Ministry program earns money each month based upon the amount of paper recycled!
Purpose: The Moeller community uses a great deal of paper – approximately a case a day. With each case costing roughly $25, Moeller spends well over $4500 annually purchasing the paper. We can all work together to reduce this cost as well by reducing our needs, but we can also reuse most of the paper that still has a usable side. This is a great educational opportunity for our students as the cost of fuel continues to rise.
*Commitment: Students who are selected for this program will utilize their M-blocks to participate in this activity. Once a schedule has been developed by the leaders, participants will report the Pastoral Ministry office each week to help with the recycling efforts. Students will be expected to participate in all scheduled activities to be a member of this program.
Service Hours: Students who successfully complete their commitment to this program will be awarded with 15 service hours which can be applied to Freshman and Sophomore hour requirement.
Ronald McDonald House
Description: The Ronald McDonald House provides a "home away from home" for families and their children who are receiving medical treatment at Children's Hospital in downtown Cincinnati. Every day volunteer groups help these families during their time of need by purchasing food and preparing a meal for the guests staying at this house.
Purpose: Moeller and MND students will be working together to prepare and serve meals for the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House. Students will also get a tour of the building and learn about the services that are provided by this organization.
*Commitment: We are scheduled to go the Ronald McDonald House the 3rd Wednesday of each month (October thru May), and the 1st Wednesday every-other month (October, December, February, April). This is a total of 6 visits each semester. Students chosen for this program, however, are expected to commit to participating in 50% of the visits each semester (3 visits.) Participants will leave Moeller at 4:00 pm and stay at the Ronald McDonald House until 7:00 pm. See the Pastoral Ministry website for a complete list of visit dates.
In addition, participants will be expected to help with the organizing and purchasing of food items for one or more of the visits. (There will be no out-of-pocket costs – we pay for the food costs each visit.)
Service Hours: Students who successfully complete their commitment to this program will be awarded with 20 service hours.
Sign Up Process: Once you have been selected for the program, it will be the participant’s responsibility to write his name on the sign up sheets for this dates he chooses to go. All sign up sheets will be located in the Pastoral Ministry office. Note: There may be a limited number of spots available on a given week due to group size considerations and/or driving arrangements.
Sunrise Assisted Living
Description: Located across the street from Moeller High School, Sunrise Assisted Living Center is home to many elderly folks that have become friends of Moeller students. Over 70 people call Sunrise home, including 102-year-young Josephine who talks about her Moeller friends each and every day. Sunrise is comprised of two neighborhoods - the Assisted Living wing and the Reminiscence wing (for folks suffering from Alzheimer’s and/or Dementia.)
Purpose: Moeller and MND will be working together to visit our friends who live at Sunrise. While there we will share stories, play cards, play board games, and do other activities that will brighten the lives of young and old alike. We will be working with residents in both neighborhoods.
*Commitment: We are scheduled to go Sunrise Assisted Living every first and third Thursday of each month (October thru May). Students chosen for this program, however, are expected to commit to participating in 50% of the visits during the course of the year. We will walk to Sunrise at 3:00 and leave no later than 4:15 each time we visit. On days with early dismissal, we will probably move our visit up as much as we are able.
Service Hours: Students who successfully complete their commitment to this program will be awarded with 15 hours of service. Students are able to earn additional hours by participating in more Thursday visits or scheduling visits on their own time. We will also explore possible M-block visits during the year.
Sign Up Process: Once you have been selected for the program, it will be the participant’s responsibility to write his name on the sign up sheets for this dates he chooses to go. All sign up sheets will be located in the Pastoral Ministry office. Note: There may be a limited number of spots available on a given visit due to group size considerations.
Teens Acting for Peace
Are you concerned about violence or the threat of violence in your school or your community?
Are you seeking a proactive approach to dealing with this national tragedy of increasing violence?
The Institute for Peace and Justice has developed a dynamic program that teaches high school and middle school youth to be peace educators with elementary students. Teens Acting for Peace (TAP), a national youth violence prevention training program, is actively "tapping" the creativity and energy of the nation's youth to help build peaceful schools and communities.
The goals of TAP are
• to train high school and middle school youth to teach the skills and values of violence prevention and the Pledge of Nonviolence in elementary schools;
• to put these same skills and values into practice in their own lives;
• to offer this vision of nonviolence to their own schools as well.
Student team leaders are selected for this program. If you are one of them you will be notified at the beginning of the school year.
Youth Philanthropy Council
The Youth Philanthropy Council is back! Last year the council was formed to teach students about the value of charity and giving through a series of classes at Xavier University and through action by reviewing grant proposals then awarding money to make those plans happen. We will be looking for new members for the council this year and look forward to another productive year of learning and giving.
|
|
|