Humble servants of Christ serve families in need

 

A 2017 photo of Bishop Michael Mulvey praying with the Moody High School baseball team at Catholic Charities.

Contributed photo
 

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For 41 years, the Moody High School baseball team has volunteered to help Catholic Charities with their annual Christmas Food Baskets and Toys for Tots program by assembling and filling approximately 1,500 food boxes each year, according to information received from Catholic Charities of Corpus Christi, Inc.

Through the decades, the names associated with this Christmas time tradition may have changed, but the sentiments behind it have always remained the same – service to others and gratitude for what one already has. The Moody team was honored for its many years of service in October when it was awarded the annual Legacy Medal of Honor from Catholic Charities at the annual Celebration of Charity dinner.

The year the tradition started was 1979, and since then, every Moody High School baseball team has been learning the lessons of teamwork and have been giving back each year by continuing the tradition.

When former Moody baseball coach Steve Castillo learned from his mother Elma Castillo, a volunteer at Catholic Charities, that the organization needed some help, he knew it presented a perfect opportunity for his team to pitch in and begin a new tradition. The team was tasked with assembling boxes of food for families in need during the Christmas season.

Castillo thought it important to teach his students how to work as a team both on and off the baseball field. At the same time, he wanted them to be grateful for the blessings in their lives and give back to the community.  “We told them it’s not all about hanging out with their friends. Sometimes, you have to help people. It’s about dropping everything when someone needs help,” Castillo said. He also told them they were representing their school.

Castillo said the boys always felt good after the experience and seemed to enjoy it. 

Castillo served as head baseball coach at Moody from 1979 to 2003, before retiring and moving on to coach and serve as athletic director at St. John Paul II High School from 2007-2013.

“The team also visits Driscoll Children’s Hospital every year, and they participate in the annual Share Your Christmas food drive event,” said Joe Curiel, current Moody coach, who has continued the Catholic Charities’ tradition for the past 11 years. “The team is always very excited and energetic when they assemble the boxes,” he added.

“We love doing this for the community. It teaches these young men about the real world and about showing their love for someone else,” he said.

Amanda Lazo, Housing Counselor at Catholic Charities, says watching the young team members in action is a sight to behold. The morning begins with a blessing from Bishop Michael Mulvey, and then the fun begins. It’s a tradition that the team captain, under the supervision of the team coach, assembles his team and guides them on the process. “The team is always respectful and very well behaved, knowing they are there on a mission,” Lazo said. “Anyone who has had the pleasure of witnessing this event can’t help but leave with a sense of knowing, chivalry is still alive.” 

Coach Corky Gallegos had the unique experience of both volunteering when he was a Moody baseball player from 1987 to 1989 under Castillo, and in coaching the Moody team from 1996 until 2012. Gallegos graduated from Moody in 1989. He now coaches baseball at Bishop High School. 

 “As a player, I always got excited, and I thought it was a great opportunity to meet the people at Catholic Charities,” says Gallegos, who described the atmosphere at that time. “It became competitive with us as we put the boxes together, like an assembly line. The boxes would fly through there.”

When he was a player at Moody, he learned the lessons of giving back to the community. He also gained the realization that there are people who needed the help those Christmas food boxes provided. During his coaching years at Moody, he said the experiences at Catholic Charities taught his players to take nothing for granted. “Volunteering is a good lesson for these young men,” Gallegos said.

 Forty-one years and counting and giving back to the community never gets old for the Moody High School baseball team. 

This year some of the students from the Newman Center at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi joined the Moody High School baseball team by putting together Christmas Food Baskets for Catholic Charities.