CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF LASALLIAN VOLUNTEERS BY RYAN WALL
When Ted Kanelopoulos signed up to become a Lasallian Volunteer (LV) in 1993, he was just a recent college graduate looking to find his calling. As a student at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory School in San Francisco, California, an immersion trip had introduced him to service, but he wanted to further explore the possibility of service as a vocation. When he arrived at Saint Gabriel’s Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a Lasallian Volunteer, something just clicked. “It really changed the trajectory of my life,” said Kanelopoulos, LV 93-94, now principal at La Salle High School in Yakima, Washington. This is a sentiment shared by many of the nearly 780 Lasallian Volunteers, which celebrated its 30th year with the 2019-2020 cohort. What was once a small grassroots effort has blossomed into a national movement, touching the lives of thousands across the country. It has shaped hundreds of educators, both inside and outside of the Lasallian world. “We’ve witnessed the birth of a formation program to prepare the minds and hearts of young adults, committed to the Lasallian mission,” said Brother Timothy Coldwell, FSC, General Councilor for the Lasallian Region of North America (RELAN). “What we find now is that volunteers are able to talk the way they think, identify with core values, and grow their hopes and dreams.”
When Lasallian Volunteers first started it was just that—a dream. While the program officially emerged in 1989, it was broached nearly a decade earlier in 1978 when Brother Willie Rhody, FSC, presented the idea of starting a volunteer program to the Regional Conference of Christian Brothers. After many years of testing and fine-tuning, the first orientation was held at La Salle Manor in Plano, Illinois. What began as a dream had become reality.
Ted Kanelopoulos, LV 93-94, now serves as principal of La Salle High School in Yakima, Washington. Courtesy Ted Kanelopoulos
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