Teens volunteer as pallbearers for homeless veterans

Pallbearers from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy.

(Image credit: Facebook.com/uofdjesuit)

published 28 October 2015

Wanting to ensure that every veteran is buried with dignity and respect, a group of Michigan high school students is acting as pallbearers for homeless military veterans who otherwise would be put to rest alone.

The University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy started the new service initiative in October, allowing students to give back in a meaningful way. "This was an opportunity to give something to somebody who finished their life on the fringe of society," Tom Lennon, 17, told Today.com. "These veterans were men I have never met, but they helped make the country I live in safer and stronger. No matter who they were or what they did on earth, every person deserves a proper burial." More than 50 students signed up for the first training, and more students plan to be trained in November.

Two funeral homes in the Troy, Michigan, area have been working with the county medical examiner's office to give deceased veterans whose bodies are not claimed by relatives after 90 days a proper burial at Great Lakes National Cemetery. Dignity Memorial Network's Homeless Veterans Programs provides the caskets, and now that there are pallbearers, everything has fallen into place. Faculty advisor Todd Wilson is proud of his students and the deference they are showing to people they never had the chance to meet. "To watch them develop this program and to give so generously of their time and talent is impressive," he said. "I have seen our students reach out of themselves and truly give selflessly to others. The students have come to understand that it is not our place to judge someone and their circumstances in life, but rather to celebrate and respect the dignity of that person's life." You can learn more in the Associated Press report below. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.