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Community Service

Welcome to Mr. Peters' Community Service Webpage!
 
Mrs. Podest, our new Campus Minister, is responsible for the oversight of our Community Service Program. Students' questions and concerns should be directed to her.
 
THIS PAGE IS STILL IN THE PROCESS OF BEING UPDATED!
 
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
We have reintroduced a service requirement for all students. The total is 10 hours for the year. A minimum of 5 hours is due by December 15, 2023 and the remainder of hours by May 1, 2024. Once all 10 hours have been completed, a one-page reflection essay is to be written and submitted to your Theology teacher. It is also due when you complete your 10 hours—in whatever marking period that is, but not later than May 1, 2024. See your Theology teacher or the Campus Minister for essay guidelines. The essay counts as 10% of your Theology grade for that quarter.
 
Students may always submit service documentation before the two deadlines, and they are certainly encouraged to do more than the 10-hour requirement. After all, Think. Lead. Serve.
 
Service is an indispensable part of being “the Faithful Man.” Our school motto is: “Think. Lead. Serve.” We want service to be a genuine expression of the student’s faith life and a joyful response to God’s unconditional love for him. We want our students to be like Christ, who “did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45).
 
Program Policies Document (with Policies Agreement Form) and Documentation Form:
Go to the download links in the right column of this page for these two forms. The information on this webpage is the same as what is found in the Program Policies Document. Please note that the Policies Form is updated every year as needed. The current Documentation Form is the only acceptable version. Kindly discard all other previous versions you may still have.
 
Purpose:
The program is designed to sensitize students to the needs of others in their communities—especially children, the elderly, the disadvantaged, the poor, and the handicapped. Through their volunteer efforts, students will have the opportunity to spiritually mature as they learn that serving others is at the heart of the Gospel. By serving others, we imitate Christ, whose own ministry was one of service to others. Performing community service is central to our school's mission, and it contributes to your formation as the Faithful Man.
 

Documenting Your Hours:

We are still requiring students who do service hours to document them using our Documentation Form. All students must submit a signed Policies Agreement Form. Students should fill out a separate Documentation Form for each organization they serve. Multiple dates/times done at one site should be put on the same form. Paperwork must be neat and legible. Students may not sign off on anyone’s service hours. If you have a letter from your organization, you still have to fill out the front side of the Documentation Form. Letters must be signed, on the organization’s letterhead, have its seal, or be accompanied by a business card. Completed forms are to be given to your Theology teacher. Deadlines for all paperwork are as follows:
 
Signed Policies Agreement Form: Friday, September 17, 2021
Summer 2021 Hours:  Friday, September 17, 2021
Documentation for community service done over the summer will not be accepted after this date.
 
1st Marking Period: Thursday, October 28, 2021 (all grade levels)
2nd Marking Period: Thursday, January 13, 2022 (all grade levels)
3rd Marking Period: Thursday, March 24, 2022 (all grade levels)
4th Marking Period: Thursday, June 2, 2022 / Seniors:  Thursday, April 21, 2022
 
Students must provide a supervisor e-mail address that is readily identifiable as one coming from an established organization, such as the e-mail address he or she uses at the agency where or through which you did your service. A supervisor’s private e-mail address should not be used. For example, an e-mail address like [email protected] or [email protected] or [email protected] is acceptable whereas an address like assorted numbers and [email protected] or [email protected] is not acceptable. In those rare instances when your supervisor does not have an e-mail address at his/her organization (for example, an adult volunteer at your parish), see your Theology teacher about it before submitting documentation.

 

On your Documentation Form, fill in ALL of the requested information. Do not leave spaces blank. More information is always better than less. Don’t assume your teacher knows the details for an event you simply list as “tournament” or “5K run” or “food drive” or "coached kids in baseball." What kind of tournament was it and what age levels were involved? For what charity was the 5K run done? For what agency was the food drive conducted? What is the league's name and the team's name, and how old are the players? Incomplete forms will delay the processing of your submission, and if you miss a deadline because your forms are not filled out properly, you are responsible. Provide sufficient information for us to process your paperwork.

 

Please Note:
Your coaches and activity coordinators are not the moderators for Community Service and hence they are not authorized to validate a given project, so don't ask them about what qualifies or not. Contact Mr. Peters or your Theology teacher about any questions you have.
 

Qualifying Service:

All projects must benefit people, not animals. The projects must be above and beyond a student’s (a) family responsibilities, both immediate (father, mother, sister, brother) and extended (grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles) and (b) responsibilities as a member of a school or community group (e.g., National Honor Society, Student Government). Students may complete no more than five hours doing service projects that directly benefit our school - what we call “in house” hours. You may not be absent from school or leave school early to do service hours, unless you are participating in a project we sponsor. If there is any doubt about the kind of service that qualifies, the student should see Mr. Peters or his Theology teacher before doing a project. Students who do an Eagle Scout Project or who work at the Marist summer camp at Esopus should still must submit documentation for their service. If you volunteer to coach children, the league or organization must be non-profit. A privately owned or corporately owned one does not count.

Non-Qualifying Service:
The following types of work do not count as service hours:
  • SJR’s summer camp programs
  • any work for which you receive payment or remuneration
  • helping any for-profit business (even doctors, unless they are sponsoring a free clinic or charitable event)
  • coaching anyone enrolled in a for-profit agency (town recreation leagues are okay)
  • tutoring or mentoring
  • child care for a relative or neighbor (e.g., babysitting)
  • helping political organizations (unless they are sponsoring a charitable event that helps the whole community)
  • helping neighbors with any work they can do themselves or afford to pay someone to do it
  • helping a relative “at the office”
  • helping students older than 6th grade (for the handicapped, any grade level is acceptable)
 
Your service must benefit the community at large, the elderly, the poor, the handicapped, children, or disadvantaged people. Doing something for free does not automatically qualify it as community service. It is your responsibility to know what kind of service counts. When in doubt, ask.
 
Suggestions for Service Hours: Students are expected to take a hands-on approach to their service projects and should thus identify their own projects and sites. This approach allows the students to choose projects suited to their own tastes and schedules without them being compelled to do a type of service that may not appeal to them. At the same time, however, students should challenge themselves with service and choose something that will move them outside of their comfort zone and help them to grow as a person and as a Christian. Some suggested projects are as follows:

Community Service
blood bank, charity organization, clothing drive, coaching grammar school age children (up to 6th grade and nothing beyond, unless the students are special needs or handicapped), elderly people (e.g., nursing home, assisted living facility), E.M.T. (ambulance), environmental clean-up, fire department, food drive, food kitchen or pantry, Habitat for Humanity, handicapped people (e.g., Special Olympics), homeless shelter, hospital volunteer, Knights of Columbus, parish volunteer (altar server, CCD teacher or aide, general help, lector, retreat team, anything for your parish's Youth Group, etc.), police department, public library, Veterans Home, any drive conducted for needy people (e.g., Thanksgiving Food Drive) or any fundraiser for an established charity

School Service (subject to the in-house limit, except for the Craft Show)
Craft Show, Fashion Show, Freshman Community Night, Open House tour guide, stage crew

Any program or drive sponsored by our school’s Campus Ministry Program counts as community service. If our school directly benefits from the project, those hours are “in house” and are subject to the five-hour limit. If an outside agency (e.g., school, church, charitable organization, community food bank) is the recipient of our efforts, then those hours do not count towards the “in house” limit. Please note that if an event is held off campus but our school is still the direct beneficiary of it, it counts as “in house” hours and is subject to the limit. An example of this would be the annual Fashion Show.