by Bianca Basone '15, Communications Coordinator
The Marists of Champagnat are a group of lay people that work together with the Marist Brothers to live out and teach Marist values in both professional and personal settings. In the initial stages of the formation process, one must write a letter to the Provincial explaining how they plan on using their membership for good. One member of the first cohort, Molloy’s Director of Library Sciences Ms. Dorothy DeNoto, explained to current Provincial Br. Dan O’Riordan ‘85 that she was interested in international service to expand the scope of Marist love and support.
In January of 2024, Br. Dan approached Ms. DeNoto, asking if she’d be interested in spending a portion of her summer working with Marists in South Africa, volunteering with children refugees, the homeless, and the hungry. Having previous experience volunteering with refugees in Brownsville, Texas, Ms. DeNoto had no hesitation in accepting the responsibility, and in July she was on her way to Johannesburg.
The first part of Ms. DeNoto’s service trip brought her to St. Lucia, a 10 hour drive from Johannesburg. In St. Lucia is a Marist retreat center, where six Brothers were in the midst of a 30 day silent retreat in preparation for their final vows. While there, Ms. DeNoto helped around the property, organizing years worth of donated clothes, and created a library by sorting and organizing donated books. She cleaned and oiled all the holy statues around the property, and even fixed the outdoor labyrinth.
Ms. DeNoto’s greatest achievement while at the Marist property in St. Lucia was spending time with the children of the Zulu tribe. For the first week of her trip, Ms. DeNoto would take time out of her day to visit an educational program for up to 40 children between the ages of 2 and 13. Accompanied by a translator, Ms. DeNoto would sing songs, participate in dances, and lead meditations and deep breathing exercises. After activities, Ms. DeNoto always made sure to bring snacks and drinks for the Zulu children and the adults that usually ran the program. She shares, “It was the most challenging, profound experience of my life. It’s a country with high crime, clothing is all borrowed, food insecurity is real, and yet these kids came with such joy and energy, and showed me nothing but love!” At the end of the first part of her trip, Ms. DeNoto celebrated mass with the Marist Brothers and the Bishop, and had dinner with them afterwards, all on the Marist property.
After Ms. DeNoto’s time at the Marist retreat center, she traveled back to Johannesburg to continue her volunteer work. She spent every Monday night at the local Catholic Church serving dinner to the homeless community, and also helped distribute toiletries, blankets, clothing, and other supplies. All organized by one small parish, all food and donations were offered by the parishioners. She said the “entire Marist community comes and helps,” and that “it was an eye opening experience” to see locals that don’t have much still gather enough to give to those that “have even less.”
Also while in Johannesburg, Ms. DeNoto worked on the Three 2 Six program, an enrichment program for 7th graders during their school break. 18 students were enrolled in the program, all of them refugees that were placed in their current school and were struggling with their school work. Ms. DeNoto shares, “My goal was to reinforce the students’ skills and lift their self esteem so that they could go back to school ready to pass and accomplish more than ever.” Determined, Ms. DeNoto designed a program that consisted of crafts, outdoor activities, meditation, spirituality, and reinforcement of school skills. By the end of the week, students had read, written poetry, learned how to write a news article, created their own ads, made artwork, and gave oral presentations.
One of the most memorable lessons was the day Ms. DeNoto taught the children how to write a haiku. Although at first it seemed challenging, the children learned quickly, and by the end of the lesson were confident enough to present their work in front of each other, Ms. DeNoto, and the other volunteers. Ms. DeNoto shares, “I was so proud of them, but most importantly, they were proud of themselves.” She continued, “They felt so empowered, I put all their work together and made it into a huge poster for their classroom. Seeing it visually made them even more excited!” As refugee children thrust into a new school in the middle of the school year, Ms. DeNoto felt that their poor grades were not a reflection of their intelligence or lack of trying; rather, it was a lack of small-group work and extra help. “They immersed themselves in every activity I presented to them," she says, “because they wanted to excel, and they did.”
On the last day of the program, the students from Three 2 Six had their welcome-back-to-school Mass. At the end, the school’s principal called up one student to thank Ms. DeNoto for all she did, but instead of one student coming up, every student came forward, one by one, to say thank you and give her a hug. “The children’s spirit put me in awe,” says Ms. DeNoto, “even with everything these children have against them, they were so loving and appreciative of every little thing.”
Next year, Ms.DeNoto is signed up to do volunteer work at Lavalla School in Cambodia, an orphanage and school for children with disabilities. “I will travel and volunteer every year for as long as I can,” she says, “because every little bit changes children’s lives.” The Marist Brothers have been inspired by Ms. DeNoto’s experience abroad, and they hope that sharing her story will encourage other Marists of Champagnat to consider global service opportunities, as she is the first to have participated in one!
Interested in the Marists of Champagnat lay adult formation program? Visit www.maristbr.com.