March 22, 2011
When
Ozanam
Scholar Eugenia Soldatos ‘11CPS began volunteering at St. John’s Bread and Life
in Brooklyn in 2008 one of her mandates was encouraging clients to
register to vote. She ended up identifying a much deeper need among
them. With fellow scholar John Wilson, Eugenia created Project ID,
a program enabling clients to apply for various essential forms of
identification, such as birth certificates, voter registration
cards, non-driver’s identification cards and several others.
This month, Eugenia was selected as a finalist for the Student in Service Awards,
given to outstanding college students whose volunteer service
positively impacts society and inspires others to serve. The
Students in Service Awards (SISA) program supports students,
community organizations, and colleges and universities that
cultivate student leadership through service. Fifteen finalists
will compete for $25,000 in academic scholarships and grants.
“Eugenia is one of our great treasures in the Ozanam Scholars
Program,” said Reverend James J. Maher, C.M., Executive Vice
President for Mission. “She embodies the ideals of the program. At
St. John’s Bread and Life she has used her passion for service and
scholarly abilities to make a real impact on the lives of
impoverished New Yorkers. She is a shining example of Vincentian
mission, service and scholarship making a difference.”
A Common Need
During her voter registration effort, Eugenia was struck
by how many clients asked her how to obtain a voter registration
card. “It was the only free form of identification they could get,”
she discovered, soon learning that it enabled clients to cash
checks, open credit cards and perform other functions many of us
take for granted. Upon closer examination, she learned many Bread
and Life clients had no legal identification.
“We had to do something,” she stressed, adding that she felt a
responsibility to help clients acquire the documentation they
required to move ahead with their lives. “Many said they lost them
in a fire, that ex-spouses were keeping them from them or they were
simply misplaced.” Whatever the reason, many clients lacked the
financial resources to apply and receive new ones.
With the support of VISA and St. John’s Bread and Life, Eugenia
created Project ID. “An important aspect of the Ozanam Scholars
Program is to help people rise out of poverty and gain
self-sufficiency and we had the resources to do that,” Eugenia
observed.
She and her fellow Ozanam scholar collected all the requisite forms
from the various agencies and began seeing 20-30 clients a week,
which soon proved a daunting task. Now, she has 6-8 students a week
helping her. Eugenia noted that she has received great cooperation
from agencies like the Department of Motor Vehicles, which allows
her to bring in 6-10 clients a week for personal service.
A Life of Service
Before coming to St. John’s, Eugenia was exposed to service mainly
through her work at a local children’s hospital. However, she had
never been exposed to people on the lower end of the economic
spectrum until she arrived at St. John’s Bread and Life. She
stressed that the experience was overwhelmingly positive and
shattered the misconceptions she had previously held.
“All the stereotypes are wrong,” she asserted, noting that a number
of the clients she sees came from high powered positions in the
corporate world or were college graduates with master’s degrees.
“Many of them had just lost their way. One man’s wife passed away
and he had just lost the will to live.”
Deanne Southwell, Director of the Ozanam Scholars Program, also
praised Eugenia’s hard work. “The Ozanam Scholars Program is rooted
in themes of academic scholarship, Vincentian leadership and global
citizenship. Eugenia exemplifies all of these characteristics and
has utilized her skills to make a difference in the lives of the
clients at St. John’s Bread and Life. She truly embodies all that
we hope to achieve through the program.”
Eugenia plans to attend law school in the Fall. As a result of her
experience with Project ID and St. John’s Bread and Life she is
committed to integrating service into her professional career. “I
hope that God blesses me in a way that I can provide for people
because they have done so much for me.” Her goal is to devote a
portion of her time to providing free legal services to clients at
Bread and Life or another similarly deserving organization.
“It would be so wrong of me to just turn my back and say (this
experience) was so great but now I have to move on. I’ve been given
a wonderful opportunity and I want to give back.”