Lucas Mortell

One obligation of National Honor Society members at St. Joseph's is peer tutoring for any underclassmen that may be having difficulties with their schoolwork. Once per week, I select a time slot to be available to any student requests extra help.

The Marist Brothers Center at Esopus hosts summer camps for the disabled and religious retreats. I spent a week there this past summer supervising campers with a wide range of disabilities. Responsibilities included but not limited to helping the campers with everyday activities such as showering, using the bathroom, and assisting the campers enjoy different activities throughout each day. The week was exhausting yet rewarding as I was able to see the world from a much different perspective.

The past two summers, I took care of dogs for multiple families while they were way from home. This entailed walking and feeding them for the duration of their vacation. I would also take the time to play with the dogs and just be in their company.

The Black Poster Project was created By Dee Gillen who lost her son to a drug over dose. It is an addiction and overdose awareness group that travels with hundreds of posters of souls who lost their lives because of their personal battle with addiction. The presentation is called Silent Memorials. It's a powerful and moving display of The Black Poster Project where people can walk through at their own pace reading the stories of each lost soul. My job, as one of the many volunteers, is to set up these posters and prepare the space for all people to come view the posters of the deceased.

Once or twice per month, I would schedule a day to cook a meal for 8 men living with HIV. A schedule would be released with certain meals for certain nights. This was dropped off outside the house so I was able to do this through Covid-19.

Starting in 4th grade, I became an altar server and continued that for years. Along with that I participated in two of the biggest fundraisers for the parish; palm cross and grave blanket distribution. We would plan a date before Easter for palm crosses and a date before Christmas for grave blankets, and we would distribute these to all the families who have bought them. The parish also has it's own food pantry. There, I helped pack and distribute goods to all those in need.

At shoprite, I was a cashier for most of my time. I eventually worked in the online shopping department where I would pre-pack orders and deliver them to the customers vehicles.

Once a month, i was a part of a team that would gather at the Grace Redeemer Church to organize and give away food to the less fortunate. Basic food staples would be sorted and packaged together and then distributed to needy families that were signed up for the program.