Volunteering with his family to serve breakfast at Catholic Charities Twin Cities’ Dorothy Day Residence in St. Paul, Ryan Gansler noticed that those at risk of or experiencing homelessness who stepped up to access water at a dispenser didn’t have water bottles.
Aiming to help change that, the senior at Unity Catholic High School in Burnsville planned to distribute 30 water bottles as gifts for the new year to those attending a Jan. 25 Mass at Catholic Charities that will be celebrated with the help of his parish, St. John Neumann in Eagan.
Gansler and his family volunteer through the parish’s Loaves and Fishes program to help serve breakfast each month, said his mother, Jennifer Gansler. The lack of water bottles caught his attention while he helped serve coffee, juice and milk at the Nov. 23 breakfast.
Ryan Gansler has included an added touch: He purchased stickers with positive messages such as “Keep Going, Keep Growing” and placed one on each bottle.
