Frank Diorio

Perhaps more than any other of our classmates, Frank has been involved in community service at places many miles from his home in Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey.

In 1999, following his retirement from engineering with the Department of the Army, Frank spent seven weeks in Gros Morne, a remote northern area of Haiti, volunteering to teach English at a summer program sponsored by RJM (Religious of Jesus and Mary) missionary sisters. Graduation "requirements" included the singing of the Notre Dame Victory March by all the students. Frank also made recommendations and prepared plans for expansion of the parish school and church.

Four years ago, Frank spent four months on a volunteer tour with Mercy Ships in Honduras helping to set up health clinics, constructing additions to church schools and the local hospital, and making repairs at orphanages. While on this tour, Frank conducted carpentry seminars in the villages - teaching Hondurans the basics of carpentry and devising projects to provide hands-on experience. Projects included building furniture, constructing rainwater catchment tanks and other things to improve their standard of living. The efforts and achievements of the students were rewarded at "graduation" with tools and materials so they could carry on independently. Time at the orphanages was also spent teaching children to sing.

Two years ago, Frank, along with 13 other members of The Center for Bio Ethical Reform, participated in a nine-month tour of 22 states to bring the Right To Life message to cities in the southeastern U.S.

This January, Frank spent two weeks gutting homes of the elderly and poor in "Katrina Territory" as part of Operation Helping Hands, a volunteer program of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans to assist people in reoccupying their homes.