Elizabeth Perez-Arche — Youth/Young Adult Category

by Tara Perre
Photography by Dave Kaphingst

Elizabeth Perez-Arche (Miami)
Bay Shore Lutheran Church; Miami-Dade Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Motivation: It's a good way to minister to kids and witness about God. God has done so much for me. With volunteering you see a huge difference--you see the impact on the people you help and on the people who see you volunteering. We all have one thing in common to why we help: We love God and want to serve Him.

First involved in volunteering: Through my school and church. But recently I've become more involved because of the Thrivent Youth Ambassadors. I'm hooked. I didn't realize how much fun it was. When you realize all the things you can do, it's so exciting. I tell my friends it is really cool to get involved.

Years of volunteer service: About five.

Volunteer involvement: Thrivent Youth Ambassadors, His House Children's Foster Home, Sunday school teacher, youth choir, hurricane relief, camp counselor and various activities for Bay Shore Lutheran.

Grant awarded to: $1,000 to Bay Shore Lutheran Church, $500 to Miami Christian School and $500 to St. Paul's Lutheran School.

Family: Dad, the Rev. Erwin; mom, Maria; two younger sisters, Christina, 12, and Beatrice, 8.

Favorite organization helped: His House Children’s Home. We talk with the kids and spend time with them. It’s fun. I look at it as visiting friends instead of volunteering. We go for different occasions. When we go, we do these huge things. Last time we brought a bounce house. We did arts and crafts. For Join Hands Day, we redecorated a room and bought toys. There are two teenage girls that are my friends. When I first met them, it was awkward. They were guarded because they were afraid it would be the only time we visited. But they realized that I wasn’t doing it just for a one-time thing or doing it for show. They realized I really wanted to help. It not only makes me feel fortunate, but also sad. We are just there to play with them. We just go there and treat them like normal kids.

Favorite volunteer activity planned: Our Thrivent Youth Ambassadors Easter activity at His House. We dressed someone as the Easter bunny, did an Easter egg hunt, made bunnies. We bought them a bounce house. We even brought in McDonald’s. We had more than 50 kids volunteer.

Most money raised at a single event: I’m not sure about the most money, but we did a very successful food collection for His House this year. We collected more than 6,000 cans of food, baby food and baby formula. Plus we made hygiene kits and gave them all to the people in Port Charlotte.

Top Of Page | Magazine Home Page