Service Opportunities For Mount Carmel Academy Students – Spring, 2012

Archdiocese of New Orleans, Catholic Charities, is sponsoring a summer program of service, SERVE (Students Engaging in Reflective Volunteer Experiences). Each session is one week long and the commitment must be for an entire week. Students may participate during more than one week and the first week is already filling up fast. The 40 hour weeks of volunteer activities are: June 11-16, June 18-22, July 16-20 and July 24-27. A twenty hour week is being offered June 25-29. Fliers listing the locations and activities that will take place each week will be posted in each religion classroom and on the bulletin board. A $30 registration fee (non-refundable) includes a T-Shirt and an application must be completed on line at http://www.ccano.org/serve-application/ or you may call 504-310-6962.

St. Stephen’s School on Napoleon Ave. – needs on-going help with aftercare. Call the After School Care Director, Ms. Sheila Chatelain at 891-1927.

St. Matthew’s in River Ridge – on-going CYO “Labor of Love” program which has students help clean, cut grass, paint and do odd jobs for the needy in the River Ridge area. Call Principal, Dennis Panepinto, for info and dates at 737-4604 ext. 300 or panepinto@smaschool.net

St. Paul’s Homecoming Center in Gentilly – this is the Katrina Recovery Center in Gentilly and services include painting and landscaping for residents that are still trying to rebuild and return to N. O. Call Connie Uddo at 415-8434 or uddo2911@hotmail.com. St. Paul’s is located at 1509 Filmore, N. O. 70122. (Mrs. Uddo asked us to add that she and her daughter are both alums of MCA and understand the service requirements.)

St. Pius X – Spring Parish Fair - Saturday, April 28 from 4-10PM and Sunday from 11AM-8PM at St. Pius X on Spanish Fort Blvd. in Lake Vista, N. O., 70124.

On-going assistance needed by St. Francis Xavier School and Church on Metairie Road - mornings and afternoons on Sundays. The nursery for 10AM mass needs help while parents are at mass. The student volunteers will be supervised by two adult parishioners. On Sunday afternoons, the Pre-K and Kindergarten religion teacher needs assistance during religion classes, which meet from 4PM-5:45 PM. If you are interested in volunteering for either activity, call Claudia at the St. Francis Xavier Office of Religious Education at 504-834-0348.

Rivertown Repertory Theatre in Kenner needs volunteers again this year during their five plays (from Sept. 16, 2011- May 27, 2012) to assist elderly patrons during the pre-play buffet and to help them find and walk to their seats. Performances are on Friday, Saturday and Sundays. For exact dates and times, please call Ms. Linda Jumonville Tuesday through Friday from 10:30-2:30 or email her at boxoffice@rivertownrepertorytheatre.org. You may also reach her after box office hours at (504) 559-5445.

Aquarium of the Americas looking for volunteers for the AquaKids Volunteer Program, for 8^th and 9^th graders. Participants will work directly with the Education Department to deliver educational presentations to Aquarium guests, handle animals, and learn more about natural science. If you are interested in participating during the school year on holidays or weekends or during the summer session email the people listed below. Contact Ltodd@auduboninstitute.org for further information and go to: www.auduboninstitute.org/volunteers/aquarium/aquakids for a complete application, which is required to participate in this program.

Lakeview Shepherd Center needs high school volunteers to help with activities provided for healthy, active seniors 9AM-4PM, Monday through Friday, all year. Special help requested with interviewing and/or recording stories from seniors and then writing and creating an artistic scrapbook for the center. Students interested in TV, English, or history should love this project! Also, volunteers are always needed to help with seniors’ activities, including: Tai Chi, exercise and dance class, theater, crafts, pottery, painting, quilt making, crochet, card games, basic computer and technology, and field trips.

If students are interested in working on ½ days or days off from school, please call Ms. Jeannie Tidy, the director, at 504-484-0885 or home@lakeviewshepherdcenter.org.

Second Harvest Food Bank On-going Community Kitchen. Monday-Friday – 2 shifts – 9:00-Noon and 1:00-4:00 PM. Weekday evening shifts can also be arranged. Location: 700 Edwards Ave., Harahan in the Elmwood area. Volunteer groups and individuals are needed to help in the kitchen to clean, prepare and package produce to be used as meal components for kitchen programs. Groups of 10 or less are scheduled on an as needed basis. If interested, call Katie Quinn at 504-729-2849 or cquinn@secondharvest.org OR call Melanie Hoeman at 504-729-2834 or mhoeman@secondharvest.org.

LCIA Greenspace/Lakeview Civic Improvement Association – on-going service on the main neutral grounds in Lakeview including watering, mulching, trimming trees and planting. Call Connie Uddo at 415-8434 or uddo2911@hotmail.com.

The SPCA is looking for volunteers. Students under the age of 18 should contact the Humane Education Director, Sadie Nius at Sadie@la-spca.org or by phone at 504-368-5191 ext. 207. On-going assistance is needed for administrative duties, animal shelter and/or clinic assistance, animal care, assistance to visitors as they look for a new pet, event set-up and building and grounds maintenance, beautification, clean-up, minor carpentry and painting.

ONE UNIQUE AND SPECIAL REQUEST AT THIS TIME BY SPCA: Volunteer musicians are needed to provide soft background music to soothe the clients, volunteers, staff and animals – strings, acoustic guitarists, flute, oboe, harp, mellow/soft jazz, mellow/soft keyboard, mellow/soft percussion, etc. If tips are made, money must be donated to SPCA. Sign up for the busiest shelter hours: Monday-Saturday 10AM-3PM and Sunday Noon-3PM. If interested, call Lori Haeuser at lori@la-spca.org.