Those from Corpus Christi Parish in northwest Detroit and Christ the Good Shepherd Parish in Lincoln Park were among some 350 teens from local Catholic parishes taking part in the 2013 Martin Luther King Day of Service on Jan. 19, two days before the official holiday celebrating the civil rights leader.
The parish youth group members took part in a variety of service projects around the city, some providing direct service to the city’s poor, while others worked on projects to better serve the poor in the future — such as those who helped clean up a building on Woodrow Wilson so it can serve as a homeless shelter.
Many of the teens wrapped up their day of service by attending a rally that afternoon at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit’s North End area.
Overall, about twice as many teens participated as did last year, said John J.F. Thorne, director of the archdiocesan Office of Black Catholic Ministries, which co-sponsored the event with the Office of Youth Ministry.
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The Core City Neighborhoods event was a real blessing to people who are homeless and hungry, said Dawn Brown, who had walked about 2 1/2 miles to get there from the Midtown-area homeless shelter where she has been staying.
Brown said she enjoyed the meal and liked the young people who served it and helped her find a warm blanket to take back with her. “This has really been wonderful. I enjoyed it,” she said.
The teens said taking part in the service day was an expression of both their Christian faith and of the inspiring legacy of King.
“Martin Luther King’s dream was for us to help others to get along, and this is one way for us to do that,” said Cynthia Obia, 17, a member of Young Faith Activators through Christ’s Teachings (YFACT) at Corpus Christi Parish.
Cynthia said likes having the opportunity to be “of service through charitable works and social justice work.” She and the other teens were wearing T-shirts that read, “Be the Change You Want to See in Detroit.”
Alexander Dlugopolski, 14, said his youth group from Christ the Good Shepherd Parish had also done other service projects in Detroit, such as volunteering at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen on the city’s east side.
“I love helping others — that’s how I was raised,” he said, adding, “I know that Martin Luther King believed that all people were created equal and should be treated with respect.”
Emily Gibson, 17, also from the Lincoln Park parish, said, “I really love helping in Detroit, so today was a good day to come down and take some action.”
JoJuan Jackson, 13, from Corpus Christi, said he was there “to help with the corporal works of mercy, and to commemorate Dr. King’s commitment to service to people, and to live Christ’s life through service.”
He said he was not only inspired by the example of King, but also by that of Bishop Moses Anderson, the retired Detroit auxiliary bishop who died Jan. 1.
“His motto was ‘Unity in Diversity’ — just three words, but powerful words,” said JoJuan, who was an altar server at Bishop Anderson’s Jan. 7 funeral.
The help provided by youth groups from Catholic parishes throughout the year is important to the work of Core City Neighborhoods, said Lillie Skinner, the services agency’s community outreach director.
“Everything that’s done here is dependent on volunteers and donations,” she said.
Wille Cambell, Core City Neighborhoods’ executive director, said seeing teens and young adults willing to help the agency’s work “helps renew your faith in humanity — that not everyone is selfish.”
He said Core City Neighborhoods serves meals regularly three days a week.
The neighborhood in the vicinity of the agency’s building, 3301 23rd Street at Ash Street, is among the poorest in a city stricken with poverty. “Arguably, 48208 is the ZIP code with the lowest mean income — $12,000 — in the nation,” Cambell said.
“The majority of people here are trying to get along on about $800 a month, the majority of families are headed by females, and a significant number of those are grandmothers trying to raise their grandchildren,” he said.
Besides meals and clothing, Core City also makes boxes of groceries available each week, Cambell said.
He said monetary support from Catholic parishes has been crucial to continuing the work of the organization.
Martin Luther King Day was also marked by an archdiocesan Mass on Jan. 21 at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, with Auxiliary Bishop Arturo Cepeda as celebrant. In addition, several other parishes held service projects, such as St. Mary Parish in Royal Oak, whose students worked Jan. 21 to feed the homeless staying in the parish social hall for the month of January.
