Notre Dame students encourage youth service | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › Notre Dame students encourage youth service Notre Dame students encourage youth service Published: April 22, 2009 Author: Mollie Zubek With hundreds of student organizations at the University of Notre Dame that offer service opportunities, it is no great challenge for students to find ways to become involved in the community. For local middle school students, however, service projects to better their own schools and neighborhoods are not as plentiful. Enter Lead-ND, a student organization that works with local youth to teach them the importance of service in their own backyards. Lead-ND, a network of student volunteers at Notre Dame, recently participated in community service projects with middle school students throughout the city of South Bend. The student-run organization aims to place traditionally under-resourced youth in a positive environment where they will be encouraged to evaluate community needs and implement change through service projects. Fifty South Bend middle school students and 30 Notre Dame students contributed to National Youth Service Day last month, beginning with a pep rally at Legends and then participation in a variety of projects throughout the city, including painting a mural at the West Side Democratic Club, serving meals at the Center for the Homeless, making cards and fleece blankets for pediatric patients at Memorial Hospital, and picking up trash at Potawatomi Park and the Nuner Elementary School playground. “We share the responsibility of the community with these students,” said Notre Dame senior John Wanek, president of Lead-ND. “Our goal is to empower them to make change within their community because a lot of times they are cast aside as being too young to help. We believe in these students, the program and the betterment of the community.” This year, the group also has attended Notre Dame women’s basketball games, taken a tour of the football stadium, visited a nursing home and area food banks, and participated in painting and clean-up projects at Jefferson Intermediate School. More information about Lead-ND is available on the Web at http://www.nd.edu/~leadnd/. Contact: John Wanek, Lead-ND president, jwanek@nd.edu Posted In: Faith Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related October 03, 2022 dCEC to Award 2023 ND Evangelium Vitae Medal to Robert P. George September 22, 2022 In memoriam: Rev. Richard Warner, C.S.C., longtime leader for Notre Dame, Congregation of Holy Cross September 15, 2022 In new book on global Catholicism, Provost John McGreevy explores modern history, current challenges of the Church September 15, 2022 Death penalty abolitionist Sister Helen Prejean to speak at Notre Dame September 14, 2022 Apostolic nuncio to Great Britain to deliver the 2022 Keeley Vatican Lecture For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn