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By MARQUES G. HARPER [email protected]
Tuesday, May 03, 2005     Page: 1E

For Carmen Rosa Kahiu, the chance to serve the community is part of her
identity, deeply ingrained in her DNA.
   
In the past 13 years, she has worked on a lengthy list of service
opportunities in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
    Today, Kahiu is the youth-group director at St. Mary’s Church in
Wilkes-Barre, work she took to keep teens involved in parish activities. She
also volunteers with the diversity committee of the Greater Wilkes-Barre
Chamber of Business and Industry and the Catherine McCauley House, a shelter
for homeless women.
   
“It’s just like second nature to me,” Kahiu said on a recent afternoon
after one of her service projects – a nutrition program for teens — wrapped
for the season. “I love it.”
   
Clearly, the 44-year-old Drums resident isn’t someone who just happened to
pursue volunteer work out of the need to have a hobby or complete a school
requirement.
   
For Kahiu, the desire to help others was born in her as a little girl
living in New York City.
   
“Growing up my mom was a stay-at-home mom, and she did volunteer work,”
says Kahiu, who spent part of her life in New York and New Jersey.
   
Kahiu says she and her siblings, a brother and two sisters, were raised in
a mixed home filled with music, laughter and strong family ties. Her father is
black, and her mother is from Quito, Ecuador. Neither spoke the other’s native
language, but her father learned Spanish at rapid-fire pace. And in their
household, the family spoke Spanish.
   
Living in the diverse neighborhoods of New York, her parents kept the
family busy with trips to museums, summer programs and volunteer work at a
children’s aide society. Her spirited attitude remained after her family
settled in New Jersey, where Kahiu became a candy striper at Jersey Shore
University Medical Center.
   
Throughout her Catholic-school education, Kahiu says she learned the
importance of worship and service to others.
   
One of her recent projects with the youth group of St. Mary’s examined a
growing issue: child obesity. For the past several weeks, she and a small
group have discussed and learned about better eating habits. And this summer
she’s considering doing another nutrition program for children at Boulevard
Townhomes in Wilkes-Barre. A big concern for her, she says, is to help
children who may need an extra hand or guidance.
   
Kahiu came to the area in 1978 to study nursing at College Misericordia.
While at the school, she met the man who’d become her husband. John Kahiu, who
came to Northeastern Pennsylvania from Kenya, was part of the first co-ed
class in the college’s history.
   
Now, years later, the couple works at Sallie Mae in Hanover Township, and
the two raise their 15-year-old daughter, Amelia, who attends Bishop Hoban
High School in Wilkes-Barre.
   
“I liked the area,” says Kahiu, manager of records management at Sallie
Mae. “So I stayed.”
   
Truthfully, Kahiu says she got involved with younger church members after
seeing a notice in the church bulletin seeking Sunday-school teachers. That
opportunity led to starting the youth group, which allows her to spend time
with her daughter and other area teens. She sees the youth group as a way to
keep teens involved in church. The group now has 13 members.
   
“The youth group was a way to get kids back into church,” Kahiu says. Once
a month, the group gathers to work on a service project. Sometimes, they
simply play games. Or they make cards for senior citizens. Or they watch
movies, listen to music and talk.
   
“It’s important that we just find projects that make a difference,” she
says.
   
The teens have tackled large service projects such as a carnival for
underprivileged children and a veterans’ history project. Their efforts won
the group service awards.
   
One of the teens, 17-year-old Ashley Morrow of Wilkes-Barre, sent Kahiu a
letter of thanks. Morrow help lead the recent nutrition project.
   
In the letter, the teen wrote, “You are the one person in my life I can
truly be thankful for knowing. … You are my mentor and truly inspire me in
all that I do. Ever since I met you in the seventh grade, I have always turned
to you. Thank you for never turning me away. No matter what hard decision I’ve
made in my life, you’ve stuck by me through everything and support it.”
   
The letter meant so much to Kahiu that she had it laminated.
   
At this point, Kahiu says her years of service have enriched her life and
allowed her to grow as a person.
   
“I have become a better communicator,” says Kahiu, who has worked with
groups such as Leadership Wilkes-Barre and the Visiting Nurses Association of
Luzerne County. Most important, she says, she learned the true meaning of an
old-time belief: “It’s better to give than to receive.”
   
She says, “I’ve learned that’s so true, and people just don’t realize.”
   
After all, just one little thing, she adds, can change someone’s life for
the better.
   
Want to volunteer? Carmen Rosa Kahiu says the youth group is open to
members of St. Mary’s-St. Joseph’s parish in Wilkes-Barre. However, for
various projects, additional volunteers are needed. Contact the parish at
823-4168.
   
Also, if you’re looking to start a nutrition project, you can get program
materials through the Penn State Cooperative Extension. The extension can be
called between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at 825-1701.