While their children were young, Carol and Joseph Schmitz and their children would select one charity to support each year. "We always collected food for the house of Yahweh. And we always talked about giving as a family, even on a super-tight budget," says Carol. "But we gave every month - even if it was $10."

They supported Doctors Without Borders, St. Labre Indian School in South Dakota and many other groups. "We always supported one thing at a time," says Carol. "We couldn't give $1,000 but we would always do something. And we all have a charity."

Today, after teaching at St. Anthony School in El Segundo, Notre Dame Academy, and St. Anne School in Santa Monica, Carol is now principal of St. Barnabas School in Long Beach. Joseph has retired. Daughter Claire works for "Chuck," a television program filmed at Warner Brothers in Burbank. Son Andrew is a student at Cal State Long Beach.

Laura, now 28, always wanted to be a teacher so she followed in her mom's footsteps and taught first grade for the last five years at St. Joan of Arc School in Venice. Two years ago Claire introduced Laura to Corazon de Vida, a group of 14 orphanages in Baja California, serving 700 children.

"When we saw what life was like," Laura says, "I felt impelled to help - and it's only a couple of hours away. I feel I can make a difference and I have the ability to get the word out and make that difference."

Ongoing service
Now Laura goes monthly to help at the orphanage, sometimes two or three times a month. Not wanting to take credit from others who go more often, she says she is "not alone. I see the orphans and we bring with us what is needed. People know that [what they give] is getting to the people in need, and they are always very grateful for what we bring. I am just one of the many - just a regular volunteer."

Kelly Morrissey, director of Corazon de Vida, says Laura "started out like many Corazon de Vida volunteers - on a bus trip. Once she made the first trip south of the border she was immediately touched. She continues to give her love and support to the kids directly through the trips. Volunteers as dedicated as Laura are very hard to find and we cherish all she has brought to our Foundation."

Laura also has been "an invaluable resource" in the office at Corazon de Vida, noted Morrissey, helping launch the group's website and working with donors. "Laura has a strong work ethic, is diligent in all she takes on, and has an enormous amount of love in her heart for the children of CDV homes."

She has taken parents and families from St. Joan of Arc. Every August the Schmitz family has a huge BBQ for about 80 family members and friends. Last year Laura included in the invitation a request for something for the children of Baja; guests' donations filled five boxes.

Laura, who attended St. Anthony School in El Segundo and St. Mary's Academy in Inglewood, maintains strong friendships. Her old grammar school friends contribute to a shelter for battered women and children in Santa Monica, and she is organizing a trip to Corazon de Vida for her St. Mary's classmates. She collects clothes for a halfway house for teens in Hollywood, and used eyeglasses for the Lions Club.

Last February Laura held a "crafternoon" for her St. Mary's friends. She bought terra cotta planters and her friends made small flower pots for more than 80 recipients of Meals on Wheels at St. Joan of Arc.

Says her mom Carol, "Service isn't an event. It's a way of life. It's what you do as a Catholic."

When the Schmitz children were very young, the family drove by a van with a mother and small children, holding a sign that read "need food." After Carol explained that sometimes people do not have a home, she took her children to the store to buy food for the family. Claire and Laura chose things for the children, too. "It was ingrained at an early age that that is what you do," says Laura. "It's not hard to give."

Carol's greatest hopes for Laura: "I just want her to stay the way she is. She is doing what she is supposed to be doing with her life. I just want her to continue with what she does for others."

Like mother, like daughter? "Charity begins at home," says Carol. "Doesn't everyone do that?"