OLPH, Belle Chasse, altar server puts accent on service

At age 10, Ellis “Dale” Lindsey III already is taking to heart his Catholic calling to share his time, talents and treasure with others.

With the help of his parents, Dale – a fifth grader at the French-immersion school Ecole Bilingue de la Nouvelle-Orleans and a student at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Belle Chasse, School of Religion – is continually on the lookout for new ways to satisfy all three challenges.

While most youngsters’ age prevents them from literally fulfilling the “treasure” component of their calling – the donation of money – Dale has found another way to give treasure: by harvesting oranges at his family’s 50-tree orchard for the hungry at Ozanam Inn.

“We have so many oranges – we don’t need that many,” said Dale, who recently worked with relatives to harvest more than 1,000 oranges for the first of two planned deliveries this season. “Our oranges are really sweet and juicy,” Dale said. “We thought (Ozanam Inn) would be a good place to donate them. It made me feel so good that I could do something for those people.”

Dale – a violin, piano and voice student – also makes an extra effort to share his many talents by performing for residents of three West Bank senior centers –  Riverbend, St. Luke’s and Jo Ellen Smith – at least once a month. At last year’s St. Patrick’s Day party at St. Luke’s, Dale, a student at McTeggart Irish Dancers, danced and played violin for residents while dressed in full Irish regalia.

“When you give your talent, it goes so much further than just that one performance. It stays with people forever,” noted Donna Lindsey, Dale’s mother and service chaperone. “(Being entertained) makes the elderly feel young again,” she said. “They’ve told us, ‘If it weren’t for the entertainment, I wouldn’t know what’s going on in the outside world.’”

Finally, Dale gives the gift of “time” by serving two ministries at his home parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help: as a member of the children’s choir and an altar server.

“It is so peaceful up there, sitting on the altar during Mass,” said Dale, who especially enjoys holding the candle for his pastor, Father William O’Riordan, during the Gospel reading.

Dale said Catholics’ ultimate service role model is Christ himself.

“By him dying for us,” Dale said, “he wasn’t selfish at all.”