Feature photo provided by: Katharina Wiegand-  Gabriella [upper left] and Katharina [upper left, next to Gabriella] stand with a family and other Apostolic members for a photo. This photo was taken when the Wiegand family visited Mexico on their annual mission trip. 

By; Alexis Oliver, Review Staff

People constantly go out of their way to help friends, family, and even strangers. Whether that’s lending a classmate a pencil to use during class, giving a piece of gum to help with bad breath after lunch, or donating money to a Make a Wish Foundation, students at Rangeview go out of their way to help others, regardless of the situation. For the past two months, two RHS sisters by the name Katharina and Gabriella Wiegand,have been doing more than just lending utensils or pieces of gum; they’ve been delivering meals to those in need.

Once a month, sophomore Katharina and junior Gabriella volunteer to deliver meals at the Denver Apostolic Christian Church. They call this project We Are the Body; a biblical reference from 1 Corinthians 12:27. It was founded by two members of the same church, Lorraine Hohulin and her husband, who were equally devoted in helping others. Unfortunately, Mrs. Hohulin was forced to discontinue the project due to severe headaches caused by a brain tumor.

“After a month or two I thought an adult would pick it up at our church,” Gabriella said, “but no one did.”

The two Wiegand sisters eventually took up the task themselves in order to help out the couple and ensure that their efforts would not go to waste. By the end of September, when the sisters first took over the project, there was a lot of preparation to be done in order to get it up and running again.

“Gabri met with Lorraine and spent hours with her,” explained the sisters’ mother, Naomi Wiegand, “and Lorraine showed her stuff that went with it, like the meal packets that they make the rice and beans with, the sign up here sheet

According to Gabriella, three older ladies from their church would make the meals homemade then bring them to the church. Volunteers of any age would either help assemble the meals or get them loaded into vans and later distribute them to the homeless.

Prior to We Are the Body being adopted by the Wiegand sisters, volunteers delivered meals once a month on Saturdays. In addition, the founder’s goal was to serve one hundred meals in downtown Denver. That goal remains the project’s basis to this day.

“We want the homeless to see Christ and love, and love more than anything through us,” Gabriella continued. “That’s really what we want. We want them to see Jesus.”

Both sisters agree that they are devoted in helping others and want to continue doing so as they get older. Whether it’s pursuing a future in the medical field, like Gabriella plans to, or continuing the organization or even starting their own, like Katharina, both wish to continue helping those in need and giving back to their community.

“I think it’s made me look at different perspectives and walk in other people’s shoes,” Katharina explained. “You don’t know their story, but you know that they need help and there’s always two sides to every story, so it gives you a different perspective… [It] makes you more open-minded to look at others with compassion.”

Katharina and Gabriella are both active within the Rangeview and Aurora communities. Katharina is the head of the community service committee in Rangeview’s student leadership, and participates in another organization at their church called the Self Group (which assists local community members with daily activities and costs). Gabriella is the president of the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) and is in charge of their SALT events.

“I love people, I have a heart for people,” Gabriella said. “When [Katharina and I] were little, we use to do Operation Christmas Shoebox, so we would send out shoe boxes and I loved doing that. Our church would bring in kids from [different] programs and we would help them. For the most part, I’ve always loved helping people.”

For more information about their church, visit: http://www.apostolicchristian.org/page.cfm?p=560.

For details about their church’s links, as well as the church in Mexico, then click here: http://www.apostolicchristian.org/page.cfm?p=589 and http://www.iglesiamagdalena.org/.