"Cardinals for Others"

Our Christian Service Program for St. Michael Students
 

There’s a story of a Cathedral in France that was bombed during World War II, destroying most of the Church. However,  in one corner of the Church stood a statue of Jesus, mostly intact, except that his outstretched hands had been blown off by the bombing. A soldier, after praying before this statue, took out a piece of paper, wrote on it and laid it at the feet of Jesus. What he wrote became a great comfort to the people of that Cathedral and rallying point for visitors. It said simply, “Now my only hands are yours.”

We are excited to continue our "Cardinals for Others' program this year! Here are the details: 

• Sophomores, juniors and seniors are asked to do 20 hours of service, total. Freshmen are asked to do 10 hours. 

• Students have choice over service to school, service to Church, or service to an outside agency of their choice.  Examples of UNACCEPTABLE service are as follows:  
  • Service for family members
  • Service for close friends; i.e., babysitting, pet sitting, etc.

• To be approved, service hours must be completed outside of normal school hours. All hours completed during the summer prior to the school year must be submitted no later than September 1, 2023.  Hours completed thereafter must be submitted no later than the end of the month they were performed with the exception of end of the year deadlines.

• Any combination of hours of service to school, Catholic parish or outside agency will count to the ten or twenty hour requirement. If families are concerned about sending their children to outside agencies, they could elect to have them do the entirety of their service with the school.  Concession workers are almost always needed for school sporting events.  Fall sports provide the most opportunities - football, basketball and volleyball. 

• Confirmation of service will be through a completed volunteer form available in the office (or printed from below.) We suggest you complete a form each time you do service. 

• Once a completed "service”  form is given to our program director, those hours will be added to each child’s blackbaud account. 
  • Students,  you can access your total hours when you log on to blackbaud, go to your name in the upper right hand corner of the student page, go to "profile" and then look in the "general information box." If you have hours logged in, you'll see "Cardinals for Others Service Hours." If you haven't had any hours logged yet, you won't see that line.
  • Parents can access their child's fulfilled service hours on Blackbaud by clicking on the student's name and on the "Contact Card" on the top right side of the screen. There, under "General Information," the number of accrued service hours is visible.

• The school does not schedule service hours for students, but does make students aware of different opportunities.

• Seniors must complete their twenty hour requirement by the end of the third quarter. All others must complete their requirements by May 3, 2024. 

• Twenty percent of the 4th quarter grade in students’ theology classes will be an “A” if the student meets this deadline. Students missing the deadline will be given a grade of “I” until the service is completed, but the grade will be negatively impacted, depending on how much longer it takes the student to complete. Please note—an “I" means that a student will not receive credit in theology, a core class,  until the service is completed. 

Any questions? Please contact Mrs. Willcox our "Cardinals for Others" program coordinator (Daphne.Willcox@stmichaelchs.org). 

Download Volunteer Confirmation Forms Here.