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The youth at Adelphoi Village take an active part in the local community by assisting with various projects. One such project is a collaboration among Adelphoi Village, the City of Latrobe and the Laurel Area Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers, also known as Faith in Action. The Faith in Action program assists the frail and elderly in our local community by providing companionship and assistance. Faith in Action volunteers have enabled hundreds of our area's elderly to remain living in their homes by helping them with household chores, transportation, and grocery shopping.
For the past three years, Adelphoi Village youth have mowed lawns and raked leaves for a number of elderly residents. During the winter, Adelphoi Village youth have shoveled for over 90 of Latrobe's older and elderly citizens. Each Adelphoi Village group home had a list of approximately 10 residences for which shoveling was necessary when at least two inches of snow fell. The City of Latrobe and the Faith in Action program provided the names/addresses of these needy individuals. Most of these elderly folks lived alone and had no friends or family to help with such strenuous activities. In addition to providing the rakes and snow shovels, Adelphoi donated the rock salt, which the youth dispersed after shoveling. Their work received much praise by the elderly recipients, and Adelphoi Village received the annual Civic Leadership Award presented by the Faith in Action program.
Even more important than awards or recognition, the result of bringing teens from disadvantaged homes and the elderly and disabled from our community together can have a remarkable impact. Old stereotypes are shattered, irrational biases are rejected, clearer understandings are formed and trans-generation relationships are forged. It is rare that all involved parties in collaboration stand to gain so much.
