As preparations continue to welcome students back to campus for the new academic year, Bellarmine faculty and staff on August 11 gathered in prayer and in service to others.
In addition to a faculty and staff meeting, a morning Mass was held in Leontyne Chapel with Fr. Mario Prietto, S.J. superior of the Bellarmine Jesuit Community, as presider. A special welcome was extended to new faculty and staff members who joined Bellarmine last school year and this year.
Following the liturgy, faculty and staff engaged in service opportunities that ranged from assembling snack packs on behalf of Second Harvest Silicon Valley for students participating in Bachrodt Elementary’s after-school programs, to preparing bag lunches for those served by Loaves and Fishes Family Kitchen. Additional service included delivering water and hygiene kits to many unhoused individuals at Columbus Park, working with Our City Forest’s nursery, volunteering at the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy Heritage Rose Garden, setting-up classrooms in the renovated James A. Carney Science Center, and working in the Bellarmine Garden.
The faculty and staff day of service is organized annually by the staff of Bellarmine’s Christian Service Program (CSP) with Anne Maloney as director. This is the department that coordinates a wide range of volunteer opportunities for students with various local nonprofit agencies throughout the school year.
Thanks to all the participants, organizers, and various nonprofit agencies on this special day in which the Bellarmine community again exemplified being “for and with others.”