Service gains respect for ND in the community
Dennis Sterosky
Class of '62
I am Dennis Sterosky, class of '62, past president of the Notre Dame Club of New Mexico, community service coordinator for the club and a practicing CPA for the last 25 years in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the request of Brother Mathias Barrett (Brothers of the Good Shepherd), some ND alumni and I helped establish Barrett House for homeless women and children in Albuquerque. Our goal is to represent the University of Notre Dame and its ideals in the Southwest.
The leadership of the Club has been concerned with contributing to the community where we live and building contacts between the Southwest and its culture and the University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame professes to be the premier Catholic university in the nation. It is my belief that words alone are not enough but actions actually convey the message and the mission of the University of Notre Dame. There is no place on the campus or within the alumni setup that portrays this better than the Summer Service Projects.
Over ten years ago, I had the opportunity to speak with the director of the Center of Social Concerns, Father Don McNeill. CSC and I heard about the Summer Service Projects. Our alumni club decided to participate here in Albuquerque. The first student spent his summer working with the Brothers at the Good Shepherd Center. We have had a student working at the Good Shepherd Center for the past ten years.
For five years, our Club, which is a "C" club (150-349 grads in the area), has been able to provide projects for four individuals each year. They have worked at Barrett House, Dismas House, Healthcare for the Homeless, Good Shepherd Center and Industries for the Blind. They have left a wonderful impression of Notre Dame on our community.
Our club's main fundraiser, a golf outing, provides the funds for the SSP projects. The impact of this service is universally recognized throughout Albuquerque and the surrounding communities. Many of our chief supporters and fund-raisers are not connected with Notre Dame but admire the program and admire what the young people do. This past year, over a quarter of our sponsors came from a client of my office, a Notre Dame person at heart, but a graduate of the University of San Francisco.
When I think of Notre Dame, there are few things that inspire me at the University more than the Center for Social Concerns. I have had the pleasure over the last 10-plus years of working with Father Don McNeill and Sue Cunningham of the Center. Both my wife and I believe that the ideals that are spoken of so often at Notre Dame, are best represented in Albuquerque, on campus, and throughout the United States by what the Center for Social Concerns has done under the leadership of Father Don McNeill. Sure, I am proud of the football team and many other things that Notre Dame does, but the true mission of Notre Dame is represented by the Center for Social Concerns.
It was through Don McNeill's good graces and a wonderful benefactor in New Mexico that we were also able to establish a service project connected with ACCION, a micro-lender, with its establishments in New York, Chicago, San Antonio, Albuquerque, and San Diego. This provides meaningful community service internships to business students.
I take pride in discussing the role of the students with my business associates in our community. I have learned that the Summer Service Program doesn't stop when the student graduates. Students may go into post-grad service roles like Jesuit Volunteers, Holy Cross Associates or the Alliance for Catholic Education, and then go into the business world and continue to work to find ways to incorporate the social aspects of their community with the Christian message that Notre Dame embodies.
I have indicated what the CSC means to me personally. It is one building that I migrate to when I come back to campus. For the Club here in Albuquerque, it is a rallying point, a draw for the broadest participation of our members. We are many miles from the University and sometimes feel out of the main stream. But when it comes to our Summer Service Projects, it brings Notre Dame people together at all levels.
Notre Dame's CSC and the resulting Summer Service Projects have done a great job of representing the true image of Notre Dame in our community. When the name Notre Dame comes up in conversation, it is not only the football program that is talked about but the impact Notre Dame students have had over the last several years within the larger community.
"For a More Just and Humane World" is a bi-weekly column in The Observer. Dennis Sterosky is a Notre Dame alumnus and community service coordinator of the New Mexico Notre Dame Club.
The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily the views of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Wednesday, November 1, 2000
