SERVICE WEEKS

Diocesan youth serve community through Catholic perspective

Diocesan youth, as part of the Service Action Learning Team (SALT) Service Weeks, facilitated by the Diocese of Albany’s Youth and Young Adult Ministry, are seen working at the Patroon Land Farm in Voorheesville, which is managed by the Regional Food Bank. (Photo provided)

The Service Action Learning Team (SALT) Service Weeks, facilitated by the Diocese of Albany’s Youth and Young Adult Ministry, were held on Aug. 9-12 at Our Lady of the Assumption in Latham and on Aug. 16-18 at the Church of St. Clare in Colonie. 

SALT is a three- or four-day immersive service experience which begins and ends each day with prayer. The youth — 20 high schoolers and 12 middle schoolers — were engaged in a full-day of service, helping others in a variety of ways such as preparing, serving and eating with folks in a shelter/soup kitchen and interacting with a variety of age groups from children to senior citizens.

The goals of SALT are to: provide parish communities an opportunity to involve adolescents in an integrated approach to service learning from a Catholic perspective; introduce and model for parish leadership a process for engaging youth in effective service-learning experiences; and provide a space for young people to be formed and transformed by engaging them in outreach to the poor and vulnerable, through service, prayer, reflection and study. 

The objectives of the program help the youth: learn about a justice issue and explore causes, consequences and responses while deepening an understanding of the Gospel call to discipleship; explore Catholic Social Teaching and its application to life today; engage in hands-on-service involvement; and discover ways to continue justice and service involvement as individuals with families, parishes or schools.

This year, each day started at both sites with Mass or prayer. Some of the service activities included: making lunch for Capital City Mission; prepping and serving a meal for families at the Schuyler Inn in Menands, which offers quiet and safe housing for homeless families; serving at the Sycamore Collaborative in Schenectady, which offers its community healthy food; serving at the Regional Food Bank Warehouse in Latham and the Patroon Land Farm in Voorheesville; serving at Ingersoll Place, a senior living center in Niskayuna; and serving at The Eliot, a senior housing and nursing facility in Troy. 

Each day ended with social time and journaling.