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Zabilskis make charity a family business
By Ambria Hammel, The Catholic Sun
January 17, 2008
A healthy couple’s relationship is undoubtedly based on trust and service to each other. For Steve and Denise Zabilski, it’s also based on service to others.
That devotion to service is part of what led Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted to select the couple as this year’s co-chairs of the Charity and Development Appeal.
The bishop called them “an example of Catholic parenting, leadership and stewardship.”
Steve and Denise already had a giving spirit when they met at church in Santa Monica, Calif., 20 years ago.
“Our parish was doing a big push to get people to tithe,” Denise said.
The pastor needed leaders to rally support. He turned to Denise and Steve at daily Mass.
“He knew how we both felt about charity and giving,” Denise said. They agreed to serve on the parish’s first stewardship committee.
Their attitude toward stewardship never faded. Instead, it increased and spread among their three children.
Matthew, 12, spearheaded a fundraising effort to buy new equipment for the St. Catherine of Siena basketball team just in time for Christmas in 2006. He thought of the idea after playing the team and realizing his opponent’s facilities needed improvements.
Mary Elizabeth, 16, plans to help with a food drive during the Souper Bowl of Caring next month. She and her 14-year-old sister Catherine once joined other Catholic students from their school in volunteer work at Maggie’s Place, a faith-based home for pregnant women who are alone.
“It was very fulfilling,” Catherine said. “It made us thankful for what we have at home that we take for granted.”
Now, Steve and Denise Zabilski also hope to engage the diocesan family in the spirit of giving, whether it’s through service, prayer or financial support.
The Zabilskis, as co-chairs of the diocesan-wide 2008 Charity and Development Appeal, will help leaders at the parish level promote stewardship just like the couple already does in their personal life.
“Jesus tells us in the Bible that our blessings are not ours to keep. They’re ours to share,” Steve said.
In response, the Zabilskis often donate their time throughout the community.
Steve has a financial background and uses it to serve the Catholic Community Foundation as a member of its finance committee and as a trustee of The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. He is also a knight in the Order of Malta, an organization that meets monthly for Mass, prayer and service to Catholic organizations.
Denise is vice president of the board of directors at Veritas Preparatory Academy where the Zabilskis’ two teen girls attend. She helps with the “normal mom stuff” there and at St. Thomas the Apostle School where the couple’s son is a student.
Denise also volunteers at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul where Steve serves as the organization’s executive director. The children — all involved in at least one sport — help when they can.
“Our kids like the Hearts and Hands Day,” Denise said, adding that she and Steve like it too. “It gives us an opportunity to work with our kids.”
Hearts and Hands Day, a St. Vincent de Paul service opportunity held several times throughout the year, allows families with children of all ages to help the poor by sorting through donated items, working in the kitchen or creating toiletry kits.
Denise and Steve also like it when the kids help serve evening meals in the soup kitchen’s family dining room because they can interact with the people they’re helping.
“We believe we’re serving God. We’re seeing God in the eyes of the poor,” Steve said.
Helping other members of their family in Christ comes naturally to the Zabilskis. They still spend holidays and special occasions — including a birthday earlier this month — with the first family Steve helped at St. Vincent de Paul 11 years ago. The family’s framed photo adorns Steve’s office wall.
The walls of Steve and Denise’s home are full of large framed photos of the couple’s children. More than 40 crosses adorn the kitchen wall. They’re both souvenirs from family travels and milestones, as well as reminders of their faith.
That doesn’t mean every activity has to be faith-based. The family enjoys hiking, watching movies, working in the yard or any activity allowing them to “work together, play together, pray together,” Denise said.
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