In our final week of #LivingHope, we want to share with you the stories of an incredibly impactful group of people who have been a source of strength—emotionally and spiritually—for the children and families we serve in The Bronx for six years, and will be doing so for many more to come—in New York, Ohio, and elsewhere.
Our Secret Sauce: Seton Teaching Fellows
Our Seton Teaching Fellows Program is a 1-year missionary commitment—with an option for a 2nd—in which leaders serve at Seton network schools, playing a special role in vibrant catechesis to further the mission of the New Evangelization. What kind of impact do Fellows make? Yeime Valle, chief of our El Camino Network and Seton Teaching Fellows Program, puts it this way:
“The Fellows have given a year of service, because of Christ—not for any other reason…and the children we serve know that. Our disciples know that ‘you took a year of service because you love me. You love me. That’s it. You love me.’ Do you know how generous that is? A year of your life. They are not getting any reward in this world for their work. They are doing this because they love Christ, so they come here to love.”
In July, we will welcome our 7th cohort of Seton Teaching Fellows. With the world experiencing so much turmoil, we had expected many candidates applying to our unique fellowship to change their plans, do something more reasonable, or perhaps stay closer to family for their first year out of college. But instead, we have 40 Fellows—more than ever before—serving our disciples and their families. Two are even returning for a second year—turning down job offers that pay full-time salaries to continue to give of themselves, many in a city in which they’ve never lived.
Bailey Raymond is one of our incoming STFs, a graduating senior at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland. For most seniors this year, the normally celebratory season of graduation has been one of many disappointments, but Bailey is “a firm believer that there is always an Easter Sunday that follows a Good Friday.” She views her upcoming year of service as “a glimmer of hope in this time of uncertainty.”
Adopting a Fellow = Forming 15 Disciples (the children we serve) and their families
YOU also have an opportunity to demonstrate sacrificial love. We’re asking you to join us in Adopting a Fellow. You can participate in one or both of these ways:
1. Sign up to Pray for a Fellow
2. Give to the Seton Teaching Fellow Program and Choose a Fellow to Pray for By Name
In case you’re not convinced, Valle says: “These Fellows are worth adopting. They are going to be Christ’s hands and Christ’s feet. AND They are going to give His Love.”
But even the Fellows know, it’s not about them. By Adopting a Fellow, you are adopting an entire class of 15 students at one of our schools, and their families.
“We don’t want money to be a reason why a child can’t learn their faith. We are already cutting the costs for El Camino—the optional after school program our Fellows lead—to $15 or less a month to ensure every family that wants their child to learn the faith has access to it—and even then, we know most can’t pay,” Valle says.
But by adopting a fellow, and ensuring we have the funds we need to house our Fellows and provide a modest living stipend for food, you’re ensuring every family that wants to know God better will have the opportunity to do so. Adopting a Fellow is giving the gift of an enduring faith to children who would otherwise not have access to it.
Will you stand with these radical servants as they walk alongside hundreds of children in the Bronx?
