MIAMI | A representative of Immaculata-La Salle High School's S.A.L.T.T. club (Service and Leadership for Today and Tomorrow) will be traveling to Washington, D.C. at the end of March to be honored at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for their works of "charity in action."

S.A.L.T.T. is one of the winners of this year's Charity and Social Service Honors program, sponsored by the national shrine. The club is being recognized for members' work with the children of migrant workers from Guatemala. Most of these workers are ethnic Mayans -- indigenous people -- who fled their nation in the 1980s and '90s to escape mass killings during Guatemala's civil war.

The Charity and Social Service Honors contest was established in 2009 to honor "charity in action" as urged by Pope Benedict XVI to the youth of the nation during his visit to the United States in April 2008. Each diocesan bishop in the United States is invited to submit a student-produced video nominating a student or group engaged in "charity in action," as demonstrated by their outstanding works of corporal and spiritual mercy.

"Immaculata-La Salle High School's video nomination demonstrated exemplary works of mercy," wrote Msgr. Walter R. Rossi, rector of the shrine, in a letter informing Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the honor.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C., will confer the Charity and Social Service Honors medal to Immaculata-La Salle's student representative during the 5:15 p.m. Mass at the shrine March 29.