Page 21 - Priorities #61 2015-April/May

Y by Sean Mclain Brown
21
Serving a World in Need of Her Gifts
“You can't judge people by face value,” says Lilly Johnson about her work with the non-profit Table of Plenty where she volunteers serving food to the homeless. “I really, really, really, want to work with people who feel down in the dumps. I want to be able to have an open mind. I'm really interested in psychology and social services.”
Lilly was the January Steward of the Month and has been involved in a number of different types of Community Service since elementary school. She spent the last four years volunteering at Christmas time with Samaritan House, where she helps set up and distribute food to families during the holidays. In addition, she has done extensive work through her local parish, Our Lady of the Pillar Church in Half Moon Bay.
As if that wasn’t enough, Lilly also spends every Sunday assisting in religious education for 2nd graders, and for the last two years, she has volunteered at least once per month at Table of Plenty, a weekly supper service hosted by the church, where she serves meals to the needy.
Lilly talks about her work with others with a passion and excitement that is pal- atable and she makes connections about how people become homeless and wants to work in prevention of mental and psychological illnesses.
Lilly says, “I’ve learned not to judge people by their appearance and be more un- derstanding of situations that lead to unfortunate circumstances. It’s been a unique experience to see different people sharing a meal not just for nourishment but for com- pany. They sit together and are treated with dignity and respect, bringing some com- fort in their lives.”
The Priory’s mission is to help teach and guide students to “productively serve a world in need of their gifts.” Lilly exemplifies this virtue with boundless enthusi- asm and certainty. To her peers and teachers, it’s clear that this is her personal calling, though that calling is not without its challenges.
She says, “The homeless folks who sit in the back. They sit on table 13, and I like to serve that table. They're telling me their backgrounds and how they had amazing potential. This woman's a great poet. This guy, I don't know, you can just see every- thing in their eyes. They had potential and they kind of lost it. As a person, I'm really empathetic. Sometimes I would go home and cry because that just breaks my heart. I want everything for people. If I could fix that for someone it would make everything worthwhile.”
Indeed, the world needs more people like Lilly to go boldly forward and “serve a world in need of their gifts.”