Clearwater teens become good Samaritans during summer program

CLEARWATER (FOX 13) - While some teens are spending their summer at the beach, over 300 are volunteering in the Bay Area.

It is a part of the Good Samaritan Project, organized by the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg Youth Ministry office. 

Beatriz Lopez-Gomez and Leah Laping are volunteering with the Good Samaritan Project for the first time this year. 

“I can be here doing something instead of being home and being lazy not doing anything. It’s my time and it is helping other people,” said Beatriz Lopez-Gomez

Leah Laping added, “I feel really honored to serve the community. Any opportunity makes me feel blessed and happy to know that people who are less fortunate are getting the things like truly need most.”

There are several groups spread throughout the area. It is a weeklong experience with the groups serving the needs of the homeless and less fortunate.

They are volunteering at services sites such as RCS Food Bank, Daystar Life Center, Veteran’s Memorial Park, Pinellas Hope, The Homeless Empowerment Program and other. 

Taylor Molitierno, Youth Minister at St. Ann in Ruskin said volunteering lets the kids realize what they have.

Molitierno offered, “One of the coolest things to watch is when these kids see who is coming in here they realize it’s not homeless people. It’s people they are in school with, it’s people they sit next to in class. They are realizing that it’s just one bad thing that may have happened to someone that changed their circumstance and this is a way to help them get back on their feet.”

This week’s work wraps up on Saturday. The Good Samaritan Project happens every summer.