By Tom Jozwik, Special to your Catholic Herald

“...and a little child shall lead them.” Isaiah 11:6

MILWAUKEE — In the season of the Divine Child – a couple of days after this past Christmas – Charlie de Vogel, 5, sat on his mother’s lap in their East Side Milwaukee home and expressed sympathetic thoughts.

“‘Mom,’” Christel Wendelberger recalled her son saying, “‘it’s so sad that some people don’t have food to eat. I wish I could give them money so they could get food.’”

Thus began an expansive family undertaking involving Charlie, his 10-year-old sister Luisa and parents Michael de Vogel and Christel.

Wendelberger suggested to Charlie that he might put his idea into practice at a food pantry. Charlie thought he’d like to involve his kindergarten friends at Elm Creative Arts Elementary, an MPS school, and so, with teacher Sandra Meyer’s enthusiastic approval, he composed a letter to his 17 classmates.

Wendelberger said she “brought the letters into the classroom and explained the project to the kindergartners, including the concept of non-perishable foods.” She also brought a bag for donations and established a food drive deadline of two weeks later.

“The class responded so wonderfully,” Wendelberger said. “Nearly all of the children participated and they filled two and one-half grocery bags with canned goods and other non-perishables.”

Michael delivered the donations to the food pantry at Our Lady of Divine Providence Parish in the Riverwest neighborhood. He and his family belong to SS. Peter and Paul, Milwaukee, which participates along with Our Lady of Divine Providence, Three Holy Women and Cathedral of St. John parishes in the East Side Child and Youth Ministry program; Charlie and his sister, better known as Lulu, are enrolled in that religious education program.

Charlie’s efforts moved Lulu to start a food drive of her own at Elm Creative Arts, where she is a fifth-grader. What began as a class project soon expanded to encompass, according to Lulu, “most of the school. ... We wrote up a letter and brought it to teachers in the other grade levels. I also asked all of the people who worked in the office to get involved. For many weeks food came in from all of the kids in school. We even extended the deadline for the project and more food came in. Our class set a goal to raise 450 cans. We actually raised 375 cans, but Ms. (Natalie) Freese (Lulu’s teacher) brought 75 cans at the end to help us reach our goal.”

The drive ended in early March, with Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee and the food bank at Our Lady of Divine Providence as its beneficiaries.

Did it surprise their parents that Lulu and Charlie opted to get so involved in fighting hunger?

“We were both very surprised at how independently the ideas arose and at how much initiative and leadership each of (the children) took on at school and among their peers,” said Michael, a real estate investor who also operates an interior renovation business.

“We were supportive of the idea, but they really made it happen. I am so proud of them for taking the initiative and for caring so much about other people.”

Ralph Stewart, director of East Side Child and Youth Ministry, said he “was just impressed that two kids would take that on.”

Wendelberger, operator of Fast Forward, a consulting business that serves primarily non-profit clients in Milwaukee, expressed admiration for her children’s school.

“Elm Creative Arts is really a wonderful school community,” she said. “The teachers, students and families all rallied around this effort. The kids’ teachers, Ms. Freese and Mrs. Meyer, were absolutely magnificent in their response. They encouraged the children so much.”

“Doing the food drive made me feel really happy, inside and outside,” said Charlie. “It made me feel happy for my friends and me and the people who live in the city and need food because now they can go to a food pantry and get food they don’t have to pay for.”

Added Lulu, “I would definitely do another service project because you can help people and it’s fun.”

Lulu had praise for her brother.

“Even as a 5-year-old,” she said, “he was able to say he felt sad for people without enough to eat. He is such a caring person. He knew there were people who were hungry and he just wanted to help. I thought that was just amazing.”

Does the family have any other charitable projects planned?

“Recently, our family made a commitment to help the St. Ben’s Meal program,” said Wendelberger. “We will be making food once each month, along with other SS. Peter and Paul families, and we hope that we’ll have opportunities to serve at the meal site together. The kids are also talking about starting a new project to raise money for children with AIDS in Africa. Getting ready for a new baby is probably our main family project right now.”

The baby, a boy, is due in mid-August and, according to their mother, “both Lulu and Charlie are ecstatic.”

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