Deadline for Christian Service Awards applications looms

By Andrew Junker | Sept. 17, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

While many high schools across the Valley require their students to perform a number of service hours before graduation, some kids take it upon themselves to start early.

Like, four or five years early.

These are the seventh- and eighth-graders who spend their free time volunteering with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or Maggie’s Place or helping out at their parish’s food pantry.

And they’re exactly the type of youth that the Catholic Community Foundation’s Christian Service Awards is looking for.

“One of the foundation’s key objectives is to support Catholic school students, and as such these special awards are helping form the next generation of Catholic leaders, committed to Christ-centered behavior and action,” said Donna Marino, president and CEO of the Catholic Community Foundation.

The Christian Service Awards were founded in 1998 through a donation of Fr. Philip Poirier. He wanted to honor Catholic eighth-graders for their charitable and Christ-centered actions. The awards grant each recipient an $8,000 scholarship to the Catholic high school of his or her choice.

The awards have also grown from four being bestowed in 1998 to 18 this coming year. The deadline for students to apply for the awards is Oct. 15.

The application process involves listing service hours worked between the student’s sixth and eighth grades, reference letters and an essay on a passage from the first letter of John.

 John and Edie Reyno have provided a scholarship through the Christian Service Awards for the past five or six years.

“It’s been a remarkable experience,” John Reyno said. “The effect of granting scholarships to children at the grade eight level who have given of themselves for many years is very gratifying for us.”

Reyno said one of the best parts of being involved in the Christian Services Awards is getting to know the students. The level of interaction between sponsors and students has grown in recent years.

This coming January, the Reynos hope to host a reception for the sponsors and all the past and current recipients of the awards.

John Sack, chairman of the foundation’s board of directors, said getting the sponsors and students together for social events “makes it more like family.”

He said that for many of the sponsors, the yearly scholarships become very personal, especially when they get to know the kids.