A webpage dedicated to the school’s anniversary allows students to find service opportunities and offer reflections on what serving others has meant to them.
“I serve because of the joy that it brings others,” said senior Andrew Laux, who started to get involved with service at the university during his freshman year.
After volunteering in different capacities, Laux found his “niche” in helping out as a service leader at the Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home.
He said that the experience has helped him to “really appreciate the act of conversation” and understand how God can use him to bless others “by a simple act of talking.”
He noted that the elderly residents are “constantly teaching me things about myself, my faith, and my life.”
Laux also believes that service has helped him grow in his relationship with God.
“I find myself praying more often and realizing how blessed I am to have my family so close and so supportive,” he said.
Alumna Laura Hehman said that she became a full-time volunteer at A Simple House of Sts. Francis and Alphonsus after graduating in 2005. Initially, she only intended to stay for a few months.
However, six years later, Hehman is still at A Simple House. She was recently married to another volunteer and graduate of The Catholic University of America.
She explained that A Simple House seeks to provide for the material and spiritual needs of the poor. This includes a wide range of service that encompasses delivering diapers and groceries to families in need, inviting people to Bible studies and visiting with those who are lonely.
Hehman said that her years of volunteering have shown her the importance of love and taught her that “the problems of the poor cannot be fixed by material solutions alone.”
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“A Simple House has been a place for us to learn humility and sow deep friendships,” she said, adding that she and her husband “plan to continue our work here.”