Teresa Barron - Service

Hi everyone, I'm Teresa Barron,

The first few months of our active year in Setons have been filled with numerous challenges and triumphs as we take on service weekly and monthly. As you may or may not know, we are in our preliminary year of partnership with the Arc, and we as Setons make up most of the body of volunteers in charge of running a new series of afternoon and evening programs for the Arc, some of which include an open craft night and sessions at Spokanimal, a local shelter. I am part of a group that volunteers every Friday at game night hosted by the Arc. Although we have had pretty sparse attendance from individuals who are part of the program, we are working hard to build the foundation of this new service partnership. I know that if we put in the work, we have the chance to start something really impactful for all the sisters that come after us.

Our monthly service projects have been exciting in a different way, in that we get to have a lot of exposure to several different venues for service. In September, we volunteered at the Logan Block Party, where we staffed the kids’ area and were able to talk to many of the children with whom we share the Logan neighborhood. They were, of course, adorable, but it was also a valuable reminder to work hard to make Logan a safer place for these kids to grow up.

For October, our service project was volunteering at Hallow-Fest, a Halloween celebration for kids to come celebrate, play games, and collect tons of candy in a safe and festive environment at a local recreation center. Some of our duties included running booths, handing out coats to kids who needed new ones, and painting faces. I manned a station at the face painting table for most of the night, and it warmed my heart to see so many kids giddy with enthusiasm for the Halloween festivities, and so excited to be able to spend a night dressed up in their favorite costumes and just having so much fun. I was grateful to contribute in some way to such pure excitement.

Our most recent service event for November was the annual Leaf Raking Blitz with Catholic Charities. This was definitely the most physically demanding service project we have taken on so far this year, but it was rewarding to meet members of the Spokane community who just need some help with work that they can longer do themselves. The women we raked leaves for were kind; not only did they express their gratitude for our hard work raking leaves, but they also seemed genuinely appreciative of our presence in general. One of the women stayed outside almost the entire time we raked just to converse with us. Of course, there were challenges with this service as well, but I am learning to take them all in stride and to seek out the meaningful parts of service. I am excited to see what else we can do for the Spokane community as the year continues.