Windsor students take part in Caritas Day of Service ahead of Easter long weekend
Students and staff at FJ. Brennan Catholic High School observed Holy Thursday by hosting their annual Caritas Day of Service.
School officials said it’s a central part of the Brennan experience, with Caritas being a Latin term that refers to charity, kindness and service to others.
“Leading by example,” exclaimed campus minister Rebecca Daoud.
“This day is, in the Catholic Church, we recognize it as the day that Jesus at the Last Supper washed the feet of the disciples, and so we also try to imitate that. And we encourage our students to imitate that by being of service to others. Not necessarily by washing their feet, but through other activities.”
Students engaged in activities at the school like assembling lunches for the Downtown Mission, making Easter cards for paediatric and palliative patients with Transition to Betterness, and collecting and sorting neighbourhood food donations.
Several groups also took part in off-site activities by visiting seniors' homes and serving food at community kitchens.
“Every year it's always a buzz within the school community,” Daoud explained. “The teachers always have ideas. They're starting to think about it at the beginning of the school year. The kids are excited to do it.”
Staff said the annual day of service has been taking place at the school for upwards of 20 years, with formers students often returning to help.Students and staff at FJ. Brennan Catholic High School observed Holy Thursday by hosting their annual Caritas Day of Service in Windsor, Ont., on Thursday, March 28, 2024. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)
“It's kind of like a fun day where we just like volunteer and help out,” said student Nina Sfalcin. “People do stuff for you. So it's like, why not give back to them?”
Grade 12 student Shade Adewusi told CTV News the day is a good way make connections within the community and get exposed to volunteerism.
“I really like it personally because this is how I started volunteering,” Adewusi said. “I think it's really good for especially our younger students like our grade nines and tens because of Covid, they didn't really get a good start.”
“So I think this is a really good way for them to make those connections and kind of see what kind of volunteering they like to do and where they would like to spend their time to help the community.”
Adewusi added, “it really kind of equips our students with leadership skills that they need for their workplace or post-secondary, and it teaches us really valuable skills as well as just helping out in the community.”
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