You must serve before you can lead.
Helias Catholic High School coach and teacher Victor Bell does just that by creating volunteer opportunities for his students while also finding ways he can help his community - particularly during the coronavirus pandemic and after the May 2019 tornado.
Bell received the inaugural Helen L. Fisher and John G. Fisher Good Samaritan Award - also known as the Fisher Family Good Samaritan Award. Redemption Inside the Walls and News Tribune partnered this year to select five "good Samaritans" who have gone above and beyond to help the Mid-Missouri area.
After receiving 15 nominations, the News Tribune asked the community to vote on who it thought was most deserving of the award. Bell - who coaches football and basketball and teaches AP government and geography - received the most votes.
"You're serving to show that you're equal to everyone and you have to be the light to somebody," Bell said. "If people are seeing that you're willing to help them, then they're going to be willing to help someone else. I think that's really the only way you can lead."
While Bell volunteers regularly, he said he is particularly driven to do so during times of crisis.
After an EF-3 tornado struck Jefferson City and surrounding communities in May 2019, Bell organized a group of Helias students to help clean up the community, particularly at the Special Olympics Missouri campus.
Helias students are required to have 50 service hours to graduate.
"When you're a young adult, you don't ever want (volunteering) to be a chore," he said. "You want it to be based off of heart."
Less than a year later, when schools temporarily closed during the spring because of the pandemic, Bell volunteered with a fellow teacher at the Jefferson City School District to hand out food to students.
"Even if they don't go to Helias or they don't go to (Immaculate Conception Catholic School) or St. Peter's (Interparish School), they're still part of Jeff City, so we definitely wanted to have a connection with them," he said.
Bell also organized his summer school class last year to volunteer at Little Explorers Discovery Center, right down the street from Helias.
Helias students were paired with children at Little Explorers, and they chatted and played together. By day two or three, he said, Helias students began to understand and enjoy volunteering.
"The point of summer school is to get them acclimated to Helias anyways, and I always thought that's another good way of acclimation, too, is getting them to serve the right way instead of 'Oh, I have to get these hours done last minute' and doing something impactful," he said.
Helias didn't have summer school this year, but Bell hopes to continue this volunteering partnership after the pandemic.
Another volunteering opportunity that is in the works - but was halted because of the pandemic - is the Helias football team partnering with the Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson City and the Jefferson City Police Department to host a free camp where children can interact with the football players and police officers. The goal of the camp is to create a positive impact and open lines of communication between all groups, Bell said.
Bell said he is thankful Helias gives him the opportunity to volunteer and promote service. He also thanked Helias Principal and President Kenya Fuemmeler for nominating him for the Good Samaritan Award.
"Obviously, with volunteering, you don't do it for the recognition, but it was nice of her to put my name in there with that group of people, which was a very impressive group," he said.
The other four Fisher Family Good Samaritan Award recipients are Hannah Frevert, Jody Delgado, Kyle Kittrell and John Schulte.
Also part of this series:
Unsung heroes honored, Michael W. Smith performs at Redemption Inside the Walls
Good Samaritan: Jody Delgado supports military through personalized care packages
Good Samaritan: Hannah Frevert leads through literacy, educational organizations
Good Samaritan: John Schulte impacts community through smoke detectors, natural disaster response
Good Samaritan: Kyle Kittrell builds new beginnings through Habitat for Humanity