By Lauren Zulick '25, Communications Intern

Vivian Griffith '27 has been volunteering with Rainbow Days since she was nine years old.

Rainbow Days works with children who are experiencing adversity. The kids are also taught decision-making skills, coping skills, and how to make healthy choices like resisting negative peer pressure, committing to staying in school, and making the decision to stay drug-free.

She describes her experiences volunteering with Rainbow Days as teaching moments. Through her volunteer work with Rainbow Days, Vivian has learned empathy, selflessness, patience, and how to reach out.

"The kids can be going through a really rough time, but they still show up and are extremely happy to be in the moment and surrounded by the volunteers who chose to spend their time with the kids," she said.

Vivian also volunteers with To Be Like Me (TBLM), an organization that provides disability awareness and education to students and teachers. Their mission is to unite a global community through education and advocacy, where disabilities and differences are understood, accepted, and valued.

Through TBLM, students and teachers can attend a two-hour interactive program covering at least 10 areas of disability. When Vivian was in middle school at St. Thomas Aquinas, she was inspired to present this program as an opportunity for St. Thomas Aquinas students to get involved in.

She made her presentation in February 2023 and in January 2024, St. Thomas Aquinas sent its first of two groups of 4th-6th graders to the program.

"These organizations have taught me to be more independent and confident on how I carry myself around others," she said. "When a person is in distress, I have learned to be approachable and myself."

Vivian is ultimately inspired to serve others because she has no idea what is going on in others' circumstances.

"It is not my place to judge them, but to show God's light and warmth towards them," she said.

"It is hard for me to describe the feeling after a service project is done," Vivian continued. "It is a blessing to know I could be a friend to someone who needed it."