Student Volunteers at Catholic Charities
Students Who Volunteer with Catholic Charities
Last year at Catholic Charities, volunteers worked over 40,000 service hours across the agency. Although most volunteers are adults, many students volunteer to work daily shifts—both in school groups, and individually. In the past year, over 150 students volunteered at Catholic Charities Twin Cities!
Volunteers at Catholic Charities Twin Cities helped serve over 1,000,000 meals to more than 25,000 men, women, and children during the last year. This summer, a handful of student volunteers have made a big impact:
Dorothea Watson
Dorothea Watson is an undergraduate student at the University of Notre Dame. She’s from Golden Valley, Minnesota, and began volunteering with Catholic Charities Twin Cities when she came home from school during winter break of 2023. She worked more than 10 volunteer shifts during that time and has started volunteering again during her summer vacation.
Dorothea has completed nearly 100 hours of service so far – exclusively at Catholic Charities Endeavors Residence. Endeavors provides deeply affordable, permanent homes to 173 people who need housing stability in downtown Minneapolis. Some apartments in the building are Board and Lodge units, whose residents have access to three meals each day. Dorothea spends her time helping prepare and serve those meals.
“I started volunteering because I’m part of the Notre Dame Club of Minnesota and I need volunteer hours,” explained Dorothea, “but I keep coming back here because I really enjoy it – it’s super convenient and I get to spend my time helping people.”
Dorothea is studying abroad in Rome next school year but has plans to return to Endeavors to volunteer while she’s home over winter break again.
Catholic Charities Communications Volunteers
This summer, two student volunteers from local high schools joined Catholic Charities to use their time in a bit of a different way by interning with the communications team. Lily Noble from Visitation School, and Alexandra Nitabach from St. Louis Park High School are spending 6 weeks of their summer break at Catholic Charities administrative office in Elliot Park to learn about marketing, journalism, socials media, fundraising, and other communications work. Their efforts will help the team and agency share stories from across Catholic Charities programs.
Prior Lake Junior Optimists
Volunteers from Prior Lake High School’s Junior Optimist Club are a group of student volunteers that spend time at Catholic Charities sites across the metro area. The Junior Optimist Club has helped nurture a culture of volunteerism at Prior Lake High School – thanks to the students there.
Advisor Dan Steger says they currently have over 200 club members—nearly 7 times more than they traditionally had when the club formed some 20 years ago. One of their student ambassadors, Maren, explained how the club has created a culture at the high school that attracts new students to their cause.
“When younger students get to the school they meet and look up to people who are in the Junior Optimist Club”, she said, “so when people become a part of it, and even after they outgrow it, volunteering is something they want to do.” Peyton, a student at Prior Lake, is a great example: he got involved with the Junior Optimists right away his freshman year thanks to a friend’s recommendation.
