CHARLOTTE — Teen Serve Week, an annual event every summer at St. Peter Church, was understandably different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Participating teens were not able to gather in large groups at church or at the agencies where they normally serve, but they still found ways to help people in need.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the parish faith formation department instead found locations where small groups could work, make take-home kits, and hold a supply drive for charitable agencies during the week-long effort July 12-16.
“The week started with Mass at the parish and a talk on Catholic social teaching, which is the foundation of why we serve through our faith and love of God,” said Joan Guthrie, the parish’s communications director.
A unique aspect of this year’s Teen Serve Week involved a parish-wide effort to make face masks for local charities and schools where the teens normally volunteer each summer.
St. Peter Church has made it a priority to purchase ethically produced masks from COLLECTION through Ethix Merch for use by its staff and volunteers and to give out to people in need during the pandemic, so they decided to put their faith even more into action to help with producing these masks.
Ethix Merch serves as the sales and marketing partner for the Carolina Textile District in Morganton. Member factories – including Opportunity Threads, which received a CCHD grant from the Diocese of Charlotte – are committed to sustainable practices, fair wages and cooperative employee ownership and profit-sharing.
“Our mask-making effort started when we learned that children attending Boys & Girls Club would not be able to attend without a mask,” said Cathy Chiappetta, the parish’s faith formation director. “Our teens were grateful for the opportunity to still be able to help in a small way, since we would not be able to volunteer with the children this year.”
A team of teens and parishioners of all ages volunteered to cut and sew 1,000 masks for the Boys & Girls Club, Freedom School, Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, Druid Hills Academy and A Roof Above.
The project had a profound effect on th teens and parishioners alike.
“After several months of feeling the isolating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, an opportunity to help our community in a small way was a blessing,” explained sewer Sheila McGrail. “As a retired teacher, I feel good about being part of a group effort to help children attend camp as well as teachers and staff preparing for the beginning of a challenging school year. The teenagers who prepared and cut fabric made my job so much easier. Volunteers who dropped off the materials and picked up the sewn masks minimized any COVID-19 risks for me.”
Parishioner Emily Sagor and her daughter, Moriah Campbell, helped sew the masks.
“Our family was very grateful for the opportunity to be part of this mask-making project. Moriah and I both love to sew, but we don’t do it as often as we would like to. Having materials and a pattern delivered to our door made it easy to help out. We both thoroughly enjoyed crafting the masks, and we thought they were really charming (ours had pineapples on them),” Sagor said.
She added that they enjoyed the creative time together and “felt that it was good for our brains, as we were feeling uncertain, anxious and somewhat helpless at times. The icing on the cake, if you will, was knowing that each mask would go to someone who needed it. While I was sewing each one, I prayed for the well-being of its recipient. That alone was healing for me,” Sagor explained.
“I really loved how I could produce these masks from home. Staying active in the St. Peter service community, while socially distanced, was great for me,” said Marguerite Stouse, a teen on the mask-making team.
Fellow team member Jake Kernodle said, “The mask-making project was an easy way to help people safely from my own home. It was easy to cut out the pattern pieces and the elastic. I hope it helps people stay healthy.”
Jesuit Father Jim Shea, pastor, noted, “Our teens strengthened their faith by connecting with fellow parishioners and our community during this difficult time of isolation. Through the mask project and Teen Serve Week, our youth were able to experience and share the hope and encouragement of Christ’s love for us.”
Deacon Clarke Cochran, who facilitated a session on Catholic social teaching on the first day of Teen Serve Week, added, “St. John Paul II tells us that solidarity is the virtue of determination to commit oneself to the common good – that is, the good of all persons and each person. Because we are all responsible for all. Making and wearing face masks in this time of pandemic is a deep expression of solidarity. It shows our love of neighbor in action.”
Regarding the parish’s commitment to purchase ethically-made face masks from Opportunity Threads with the Jesuit logo on them, Chiappetta explained, “By supporting local textile artisans and eco-friendly production in North Carolina, St. Peter is living its mission of social justice. We wanted to purchase masks from them because we know that it aligns with our mission – by protecting creation and having a living wage that respects the dignity and rights of workers.”
“Wearing the masks is an act of solidarity, protecting the people we serve as well as each other. Having the masks branded with the Jesuit sunburst embodies St. Peter’s commitment to Catholic social teaching,” she added.
Besides the mask-making project during Teen Serve Week, the teens and other volunteers worked at Catholic Charities’ Charlotte food pantry, Second Harvest Food Bank, Samaritan’s Feet, Irwin Creek Greenway and the parish rectory. They also made baby blankets for the Missionaries of Charity, gift bags for teachers at Druid Hills Academy (a partner school), and friendship bracelet kits for the Boys & Girls Club. They also organized supply drives for A Roof Above, mothers in need served by the Missionaries of Charity, and the Charlotte Rescue Mission, Baby Bundles, Ronald McDonald House and Catholic Charities’ Charlotte food pantry.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
Pictured: Teen Serve Week gave St. Peter Church’s teens multiple opportunities to volunteer recently. Among other projects, they contributed to efforts to make and supply cloth masks to schools and organizations in need. (Photos provided by St. Peter Church)