ROSWELL—Blessed Trinity High School students weren’t satisfied collecting donations for a new refugee family. They wanted to decorate and make the new home for the family welcoming, theology teacher Toni Vilardi said.

Students had studied the Old Testament, with its theme of sojourners and Catholic social teaching, and contacted Catholic Charities Atlanta to ask about helping to settle a newly arrived refugee family.

After collecting the needed items, students took a day off from school to set the apartment up for a refugee family from Burma, made up of a mother and father, 16-month-old-daughter and grandmother.

Recently the students traveled to Decatur to clean the apartment, meet a Catholic Charities representative, and set up the home. Students brought in everything to set up the apartment, from a shower curtain to dish drainer.

“This project and the idea of having such a direct impact on the people I served has inspired me to do more service work in the future. I’ve already looked into being more involved in my church community and have talked to my family about possibly doing volunteer work together as a family,” said student Rose Sebaugh.