By: Greg Mason
When Mike Melara was a freshman at Le Moyne, God came to him and asked him to volunteer for a service project.
Well, not exactly.
It was Mike’s friend, John Godwin – whose nickname in college was “God” – who asked Mike to volunteer at a men’s homeless shelter called Unity Kitchens. “God’s” request eventually turned out to be the catalyst for Mike’s future career.
But in Mike’s opinion, there probably was a little divine intervention.
“I don’t know if I would’ve figured it out on my own,” Mike said. “I think it was divine intervention in some ways. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just John who asked me to volunteer there. I’m sure God had something to do with it.”
The “it” he refers to is the idea of serving the community, something Mike has continued to do for over thirty years. From his first efforts as a freshman at Le Moyne, Mike has devoted himself to serving others, and now is the Executive Director of Catholic Charities – a $22 million service agency based in Onondaga County.
His journey with service began at Le Moyne when he volunteered to work with children in an afterschool program and with the elderly at a nursing home.
It wasn’t as if Mike planned on doing this as a career, but the feeling of helping out in service projects made his eventual path seem like a “natural evolution” for him.
“Once I started volunteering, I liked the experience,” Mike said. “I felt like I was learning a lot by spending time with other people, particularly people that were in need, people who were struggling.”
When Mike was a junior in college, he joined Le Moyne’s Projects in the Community group and volunteered to work at Vincent House, one of Catholic Charities’ neighborhood centers near Westside Syracuse. This was Mike’s first interaction with the nonprofit agency.
“I loved working at Catholic Charities back then. I loved the mission of the organization…Once I started volunteering, I didn’t stop,” Mike said. “I worked with the elderly; I wanted to work with the young people. I just wanted to continue to explore and have as many experiences as I could.” 
The rest is history. Mike graduated from Le Moyne in 1981 and was hired by Catholic Charities three years later. After almost a decade of service with the agency, Mike left to pursue other career opportunities, but returned to the agency in 2008 as the new Executive Director. He hasn’t looked back since.
For Mike, participating in service to others is all about personal enlightenment. It’s about discovering and improving one’s whole self by striving to improve the well-being of society as a whole.
“In this work, we continue to search for the next level of enlightenment,” Mike said. “I think being inquisitive, pursuing knowledge, and having a servant’s heart are crucial ingredients. We’re constantly discovering things about ourselves whether it’s through our profession or our vocation.
“It’s this belief that we are never a finished product,” he continued. “Part of the Le Moyne ethos is the idea of continual discovery – continual pursuit of enlightenment and knowledge. It’s highly introspective with practical implications.”
Mike believes that service is a calling by God to help others who are struggling. In doing service, a person has the ability to demonstrate their care for humanity in a selfless fashion.
“This isn’t a theoretical exercise: this isn’t walking around and saying ‘Jeez, I really care about people who are hurting.’ It’s a practical attempt to use our body, our time, and our energy to be helpful…to continually learn and discover…that hopefully allow me to be a greater instrument of God’s love and God’s compassion.”
For Mike Melara, service shaped his life. And it all traces back to his freshman year, answering “God’s” call. Mike hasn’t doubted his choices for a second.
“It doesn’t matter what you do for a living,” Mike says. “You can be an accountant, you can be an engineer, you can be a secretary – anything. We all play a very important role in advancing the common good in our community and I think that’s a lesson that got impressed on all of us at Le Moyne.”
Read more about Ignation Values at Le Moyne from:
Andrew Lunetta Mike Malera Micheal Wheeler
To learn more about St. Ignatius and the Jesuits, click here.