Hope from a distance
College student keeps up her dedication to volunteer center
Juliana Kochis is attending Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. — 300 miles from Ambridge’s Center for Hope and the people it helps. But through the work she did while attending Montour High School, she is still benefiting the center.
Ms. Kochis, 18, is one of seven finalists for Most Outstanding Volunteer of the Year in the 2014 Jefferson Awards for Public Service. The winner, to be announced at an awards ceremony Monday, will represent Western Pennsylvania at the national Jefferson Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., this summer. The program is administered locally by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with sponsorship by Highmark and BNY Mellon.
Henderson Brothers will donate $1,000 to the Center for Hope on Ms. Kochis’ behalf.
Her father, the Rev. Michael Kochis, a pastor at St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the South Side, nominated her for the award because her contribution to
the Center for Hope was twofold: She organized programs and events for the center but also spurred people at her own church to volunteer there, linking the two organizations in a way that does not hinge on her presence.
“People are hesitant to get involved in projects that are outside of their comfort zone. ... It’s a tremendous way to live the Gospel and help people, and we’ve benefited from it as much as any of the families from the Center,” he said. “She showed to the younger people in particular that you don’t have to wait until an adult does something to help ... you can’t endow a medical clinic, but there are things you can do.”
Ms. Kochis, of Kennedy, was in middle school when as a leadership project she collected supplies for a homeless shelter. She dropped off the items in person, and when she saw the level of need there, things fell into place: She wanted to help people, and she wanted to do it on a large scale.
Founded in 2004 by the Fellowship United Methodist Church of Ambridge and Western Pennsylvania United Methodist Conference Center in Cranberry, the faith-based Center for Hope serves the low-income population of Ambridge, promoting education, job-readiness training and other skills-based activities that allow youth and adults to develop confidence and the ability to care for themselves and their families.
The center first entered Ms. Kochis’ life when she oversaw a one-week subsidy lunch program there for her Girl Scout Gold Award project. She talked to the kids about healthy eating, faith and good decision making. After that one week was up, she found she didn’t want to leave.
“The relationships
I formed were long-standing,” she said.
So she created an end-of-summer carnival for the center, an event that will enter its third year this summer. And she continued to donate her time during the school year, where she balanced her volunteer work with four sports and schoolwork, eventually graduating as Montour’s valedictorian.
Sue Otto, the center’s executive director, said Ms. Kochis has especially been helpful for the center’s children.
“Children watch people closely. They can sense sincerity. That someone cares about them, that’s big — she cared, they knew it, and it made a difference to them,” she said.
Ms. Otto said the Santa Shop Ms. Kochis started at the center is one of her most impressive contributions. The shop allows children to select gifts for their parents so they get to experience how meaningful giving can be.
“It takes a lot just to think about the kids and to make it a fun activity, and then to think they don’t have anything to put under the tree for their mother and father — that’s going to stick in my heart.”
Now Ms. Kochis is studying industrial and labor relations and hopes to work in human resources when she graduates, and she is continuing her commitment to service in between classes. She’s part of the university’s philanthropy program, and she plans to become a certified counselor for her peers.
People often talk about the younger generation discouragingly, said Ms. Otto, but she feels confident in its potential knowing that Ms. Kochis is part of it.
“When I see kids like Juliana, it just touches your heart to know that we’re in good hands,” she said.