by Vicki-Ann Downing Brockton Enterprise June 11, 2008

As much as the ministry of My Brother’s Keeper means to the families it serves, it means just as much to the volunteers.

Each year, 100 students from Stonehill College and another 150 from Catholic high schools volunteer at the Easton-based non-profit. Most are from upper middle-class or affluent families, said Jim Orcutt, co-founder of the charity.

The student volunteers might study sociology and theology in college, but most have never been inside a three-decker where a family might be keeping the oven door open to get some heat. “They go in and they learn to attach names and faces to people, and not to think of them as just a class of people, the poor,” said Orcutt.

“These students are the future doctors, lawyers, judges and legislators who will one day make decisions affecting the lives of the poor, not from an academic perspective, but from the heart,” he said.

The volunteers see real-life examples of faith, whose true measure “is the extent to which we rely on God in our time of trouble,” says Orcutt, who founded the charity with his wife, Terry.

The volunteers begin and end each day with a prayer, seeking intercessions for family and friends. “People come in here and they’re very comfortable talking about God and their spirituality,” said Terry Orcutt, Jim’s wife and co-founder. “They bring their laughter, tears and problems.” They also have fun, Jim said. They take the mission seriously, but never themselves seriously.