Hannah Boquet found her introduction to service through her extracurricular activities, volunteering through the Beta Club, National Honor Society and church outreach events. It wasn’t long before she knew it was her calling.
Boquet plans to one day make philanthropy her career, but the big-hearted student isn’t waiting around until then to help others. She recently led a donation drive for UNITY of New Orleans, a group which provides housing starter kids to the homeless.
“They take people from the streets of New Orleans and put them in homes,” Boquet said. “They give them necessities people don’t necessarily think of, like toiletries and things we need every day.”
Boquet, a senior at Destrehan High School, and others put up boxes around DHS to collect such items. She noted the drive resulted in over 200 items donated to the cause.
“We were able to put together 40 movement kits,” she said. She got involved after researching UNITY, a venture that came about due to her senior project. While gathering information on the mental side effects homelessness can cause, she came across UNITY, which primarily focuses on helping people who have been homeless for long periods of time.
“There are many people who can’t help themselves because of trauma they’ve suffered in their lives,” Boquet said. “A big focus for them is helping veterans … (those people) really need support, and I wanted to help.”
Boquet had experience leading charity drives before, her first a hurricane outreach drive that also collected items of need for those who suffered losses due to the storm. “(Community service) is something I’ve always really loved doing,” Boquet said. “It’s something I always look forward to, and as I’ve gone on, I’ve realized it’s something I’d like to continue when I choose a career.”
To that end, she’s already begun making progress. Boquet will forgo her senior trip, but she’ll still be traveling: she’ll head to Washington D.C., where she will work with a group teaching English to refugees.
“I’m going to spend two to three weeks with them,” Boquet said. “They help (refugees) adjust to life here.”
She made an even longer trip last summer; she raised over $5,000 to travel to Fiji, going to many of its poorest areas and teaching English to those needing to learn the language. Boquet’s father, Jules, said he had a feeling when his daughter returned from Fiji that she wasn’t quite finished.
“Hannah has always been the kid that wants to help others,” he said. “We instilled being a volunteer in her very early, but in the last year she has really taken it to another level. She has never been one to really go away without us. She mostly did volunteer work through school and church. So for her to go halfway around the world without us was a big step.
“But when I picked her up at the airport from her Fiji service trip , and heard the excitement and pure joy in her voice when describing the people she helped, I knew this is what she would probably be doing for the rest of her life. She has just taken off from there.”
He also said he couldn’t be prouder.
“For her to say ‘Dad, instead of going on a senior trip, can I go to Washington D.C. and tutor refugee children?’ Well, let’s just say, I am very proud of every achievement she has notched from winning the state science fair in middle school to graduating with honors this year, but that moment made me the proudest of her.”
Indeed, it’s the kind of work she envisions doing for a very long time.
“It can get pretty hectic,” Boquet said. “You really just make the time. It’s something I’m really passionate about. “I think everyone deserves a fighting chance. I’ve been given so many opportunities, and I want to share what I have with others.”
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