On the second Friday of every month, long after school is dismissed, the kitchen at St. Cecilia's School in Oakley is a flurry of activity.

        Usually 6 to 10 students, guided by teacher Ginger Hamm of Hyde Park, pitch in to make a meal for residents at Tender Mercies, an Over-the-Rhine organization that provides housing for adults who have been homeless and have chronic mental illness. The students shop for food, prepare the meal and serve it.

        Eleven students helped cook Friday, preparing lasagna, salad, corn and Christmas cookies. As the kids buttered bread, they sang along to a 98` Christmas CD to get into the holiday spirit.

Helping prepare a meal Friday are (from left) Kai Britton, 13; Jennifer McPherron, 12; Jonathan Ries, 14; and Elizabeth Harten, 12. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        “It puts a smile on my face to see regular people who have money and a home to go back to helping out people who don't have that,” said Kai Britton, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Hyde Park.

        Yet there's a tinge of sadness.

        “It kinda makes me feel bad and kinda selfish,” said Cassie Gilligan, 13, an eighth-grader from Oakley. “There are people out there who don't have any money or a place to live.”

        The project, in its sixth year, is the handiwork of Mrs. Hamm. She noticed that seventh- and eighth-graders who needed community service for confirmation were doing good work in the concession stand and helping classroom teachers. But she thought they needed to broaden their perspective.

        Tender Mercies fit the bill, and now students volunteer even when they don't need service hours.

        “I've had kids, when we're driving away, say, "Mrs. Hamm, would they have had anything to eat tonight?'” When she tells them maybe yes and maybe no, they say, “Why don't we do this every week? This is wrong. They should be able to eat.”

        “They see there's a whole world out there that is a little bit different than their world, but we can respect those people,” Mrs. Hamm said.

        It's a win-win situation for kids and residents.

        “Kids are the universal medicine,” said Marcia Spaeth, director of Tender Mercies. “Our residents love to see them and interact well with them. The kids know about mental illness, and they know they can come to Over-the-Rhine and survive.”

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