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Helping with smiles on their faces

Helping with smiles on their faces

I should let you know about a group of students at Fenton High School in Bensenville. These students have been coming to help at PADS at the Wood Dale Community Church in Wood Dale since December 2013.

Holy Ghost Church sponsors PADS (overnight) every second Friday of the month from September through May. I contacted the Director of Community Relations and Community Service, Terri Wood, in November asking her if she could help us with getting students to help at the 5:45 a.m. shift on Saturday mornings. Ms. Wood posted my information so the students could see it and sign up. Three students - Mirna Gutierrez, Sucely Guiterrez and Brandon Limon - showed up on Dec. 14. Their first time at PADS was a very snowy day. After helping with the clean up inside, they went outside to shovel snow so our guests could leave. They never questioned anything asked of them and always had a smile on their faces.

The students returned in February. Although I had mistakenly told the director our date was Feb. 8 (our church was not sponsoring PADS), the students and Heily Gutierrez were able to stay and help the sponsor church. I was afraid we would not be able to get them for our sponsor time, but I was wrong. The next weekend Mirna Gutierrez, Sucely Gutierrez, Brandon Limon, Heily Guiterrez, Brian Garduno and Irene Chavez) showed up. They worked well together.

In March, the students showed up again. They were such a welcome sight. Many of our regular volunteers were either sick or had other commitments. The students worked even harder that morning, and still with smiles on their faces.

Our church has been blessed with the help these students provide. They are wonderful examples of DuPage County's finest young men and women.

Mary Beth Kurpiel

Bensenville

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