Notice of Cybersecurity Incident

Viatorian Valentines

Saint Via­tor Stu­dents and Alum­ni Team Up to Spread Love for Valentine’s Day

In addi­tion to strong aca­d­e­m­ic and extra-cur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties, Saint Via­tor High School is deeply root­ed in a tra­di­tion of giv­ing back to oth­ers, ser­vant lead­er­ship, and com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment. After sup­port­ing Ken­neth Young Center’s Adopt a Fam­i­ly by pro­vid­ing more than 120 gifts to area fam­i­lies for the hol­i­days, many Via­tor fam­i­lies were intro­duced for the first time to KYC’s diverse port­fo­lio of pro­grams rang­ing from youth empow­er­ment to old­er adult ser­vices, men­tal health to cri­sis inter­ven­tions. Then learn­ing that two mem­bers of KYC’s Lead­er­ship Team are Saint Via­tor grad­u­ates deep­ened the connection.

As stu­dents returned to school after win­ter break, many were look­ing for local ser­vice oppor­tu­ni­ties to sup­port those impact­ed most by the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. Sarah Mik­lius, SVHS Class of 2015 and cur­rent staff mem­ber of the Stu­dent Min­istry Team, reached out to KYC to see how stu­dents could make an impact.

Ms. Mik­lius and stu­dents gath­ered sweet treats, craft sup­plies to make hand­made cards, heart-shaped bas­kets, and more to cre­ate Valentine’s Day care pack­ages for KYC’s clients. On Feb­ru­ary 3rd, more than 30 stu­dents gath­ered to assem­ble over 100 care pack­ages with mes­sages of friend­ship to the adults and old­er adults who would receive them. At the begin­ning of their meet­ing, Kate Gar­barek, Direc­tor of Devel­op­ment and Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, shared how the pan­dem­ic has specif­i­cal­ly impact­ed clients and the strain iso­la­tion can put on someone’s men­tal health.

Katrina Speaking at Viator

Students gathered in the cafeteria to talk with expert panelists about mental health.

Once their pack­ages were com­plet­ed, stu­dents par­tic­i­pat­ed in a pan­el dis­cus­sion on men­tal health, with experts from SVHS’s Coun­sel­ing Depart­ment, Clau­dia Carone and Michael Leahy, and Kat­ri­na Flesvig, KYC’s Direc­tor of Behav­ioral Health. 

Red Heart Monochrome Photo Valentines Day Photo Collage

Saint Viator students packing care packages for KYC clients.

Most of the bas­kets will go to seniors receiv­ing Home Deliv­ered Meals, while oth­ers will be dis­trib­uted to adults liv­ing with seri­ous men­tal ill­ness, many of whom are liv­ing inde­pen­dent­ly for the first time in years. Lisa Hen­drick­son (SVHS Class of 1999), Direc­tor of Com­mu­ni­ty Liv­ing, leads this expand­ing pro­gram to build inten­sive out­pa­tient men­tal health and social work ser­vices that ensure these adults suc­cess­ful­ly tran­si­tion from long-term care facil­i­ties to inde­pen­dent apart­ments with wrap­around support.

7

A Valentine made by one of the students.

I’m deeply proud to be a Via­to­ri­an and recon­nect­ing with the school through ser­vice projects has been a priv­i­lege” shared Gar­barek. I had a joy-filled four-years as a stu­dent and see­ing cur­rent stu­dents’ com­pas­sion toward oth­ers and their desire to des­tig­ma­tize men­tal ill­ness has been inspir­ing. These bas­kets will bring so much joy to peo­ple who tru­ly need it.”

Like many Via­tor grad­u­ates, Hen­drick­son and Gar­barek cred­it many of the val­ues instilled dur­ing their days at Saint Via­tor with their desire to work in the social ser­vice sec­tor. After grad­u­at­ing, Ms. Hen­drick­son stud­ied at Uni­ver­si­ty of Con­necti­cut and then grad­u­at­ed from Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty with a degree in Psy­chol­o­gy. She worked as a Men­tal Health Out­reach Coun­selor for a cou­ple years in Boston, then moved back to Chica­go and began work­ing for KYC. After earn­ing her Master’s of Social Work from the Uni­ver­si­ty of St. Fran­cis, she helped estab­lish the Com­mu­ni­ty Sup­port Team at KYC serv­ing the North­west sub­urbs of Chica­go. Her irrefutable dri­ve to lift up oth­ers, some­times from their low­est point, has not only large­ly built the depart­ment that she now over­sees, but has changed count­less lives for the bet­ter. From help­ing com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers find per­ma­nent and sta­ble hous­ing to con­nect­ing them with the ongo­ing sup­port ser­vices that help each indi­vid­ual reach their per­son­al goals for inde­pen­dence, her work makes an impact each day.

After grad­u­at­ing from Saint Via­tor, Ms. Gar­barek earned dou­ble degrees in Strate­gic Communication/​Public Rela­tions and Com­par­a­tive Reli­gion from Mia­mi Uni­ver­si­ty. She’s held fundrais­ing roles at both East­er Seals Met­ro­pol­i­tan Chica­go and the Friend­ship Senior Options Foun­da­tion before join­ing KYC’s team to lead their com­mu­ni­ca­tions and advance­ment efforts. Her goal is to empow­er impact through phil­an­thropy, vol­un­teerism, and service.

Both of these St. Via­tor alum­ni are proud to car­ry on the val­ues and skills they learned as Lions through­out their pro­fes­sion­al careers by giv­ing back to our com­mu­ni­ties and hon­ored to con­tin­ue that rela­tion­ship through projects with today’s Lions.

2

Students packed large moving boxes with care packages, ready for distribution to KYC clients.


Previous Article Next Article
You're Not Alone

Half
of us will expe­ri­ence some form of men­tal ill­ness in our lifetime

Get Involved

How You Can Help

Keep up to date with KYC!

Get the latest Kenneth Young Center news and insights emailed to you each month. Just complete the form below to subscribe.