Middle school students reach out to others through annual service week at Sacred Heart in Troy
On a hot June morning, Teddi Michler wheeled herself over to a shady spot near her house where several girls were potting flowers.
As they worked, Michler chatted with them, telling stories of the past 60 years on her land. The teens’ help makes a big difference for Michler, a longtime parishioner at Sacred Heart in Troy who moved into the house with her late husband in 1963.
“I used to take care of all of this myself, but unfortunately, I can’t do that anymore,” Michler said. When they were finished for the morning, she had cookies and lemonade waiting.
The annual Edge Service Week at Sacred Heart Parish in Troy sends middle school students and high school and adult volunteers to several parishioner homes, like Michler’s, as well as a handful of other service sites. The students serve at different locations in the morning, then return to the parish for prayer, small group sharing and games in the afternoon.
Alison Palmer, a rising senior at St. Dominic High School and part of the Sacred Heart youth group, listened attentively to Michler, asking for tips as she dug a space for brightly colored petunias.
“I feel like through service, we’re able to see God in everyone,” Alison said.
Alison has been part of the service week since her own middle school days. She especially enjoys visiting parishioners’ homes, “because we get to see on a personal level — hey, I am helping someone, I’m doing something that makes them happy.”
Across the driveway, rising seventh-grader Bennett Pieper worked with two other students to give Michler’s outdoor benches a fresh coat of black spray paint.
“This helps me get closer to the community, meet new people and help people, even if I don’t know them — because they deserve it,” he said.
Sacred Heart youth minister Sarah Eberhard started the service week in 2018 with just 12 students and three volunteers. This year, about 60 middle schoolers participated.
“We live in a culture where everything is so busy, and it’s so about us all the time, that I think it’s vital that they take the time to serve others and realize they are a part of the Body of Christ, and they have an active role, even though they’re only 11, 12, 13 years old,” Eberhard said.
As the service teams regrouped after lunch, Eberhard asked them about their experiences. Most groups had done small projects for elderly or homebound parishioners, but some also volunteered at Bridge of Hope, a new emergency shelter and crisis center near Troy, and other organizations.
“Even if your task is small, it’s important to the people you’re serving,” Eberhard reminded the students.
Each afternoon included a short talk and prayer activity, introducing students to lectio divina, the Ignatian examen, and reflections on the Beatitudes and the Works of Mercy. The high school volunteers led the small groups, which included students of various ages and from both Sacred Heart’s day school and Parish School of Religion.
“It’s beautiful to watch PSR kids mixed with day school kids or the kids from other parishes,” Eberhard said. “There’s a lot of friendships that last through high school that start here…anytime you can bring them together in serving others, it’s something we have in common.”
During the school year, Edge — Life Teen’s middle school program — meets twice a month. The service week has also helped the youth ministry program grow, “because it seems like they start to get a stronger relationship with Jesus and understand how important it is to have that personal relationship,” Eberhard said.
At Susan Peasel’s home, a team of eight boys armed with fresh mulch, rakes and wheelbarrows redid the mulch in the landscaping that snaked around the house and into the backyard.
“This would have taken me days, working a little bit at a time,” Peasel said.
Nate Weber, a rising eighth grader at Sacred Heart, was participating in the service week for the third summer in a row. Mulching was right up his alley, he said; in past summers, he’d also pulled weeds, chopped wood and removed dead plants from parishioners’ yards.
“I get to work with my friends and have fun,” he said.
But the most important work the students do all week? Spending time in conversation with the people they serve, Eberhard said.
“I think some people, they just love to have the visitors — they don’t care about the yard work. They just want to spend time with the kids,” she said. “They’re just so happy to see that the Church is alive with the youth, and I think that feeds their spirit.”
