Sixty-five Middle and High School students participated in our 6th annual week of service. Students started their day at 8 a.m. and ended at 8 p.m. During this time they departed for various worksites at 9 a.m. and returned by 3:30 p.m. We worked at Catholic Charities, North End Soup Kitchen, Community Closet, American House, Brookdale Senior Center, Woodhaven Senior Community, St. John Vianney, Holy Family, Sr. Sharon’s (new) house, and various parishioners’ homes. Some of the work they did is as follows:
• Built a retaining wall and created a garden at Holy Family
• Painted a classroom and did some outside work at St. John Vianney
• Painted Sr. Sharon’s house, stained the deck, ripped out carpet, sanded and painted the hardwood floors
• Worked in the school with our maintenance staff
• Worked at Woodhaven Senior Community
• Worked at the parish office
• Unloaded a semi truck with items for our school
• Did some work at three homes
• Worked at Catholic Charities camp located at Our Lady of Guadalupe and even took the kids attending the camp to For-Mar Nature Preserve for a field trip.
When students returned from their worksites, they enjoyed some free time followed by team building games, reflections and small group work. They ate all their meals together and then we had time for Adoration and Reconciliation – thanks to Msgr. Vincke, attended a Mass together and had Fr. Dan come in and talk about Adoration. We ended our week with a well-deserved fun day at Red Oaks Waterpark.
These young people represented our parish in the community and worked hard. They exemplified what it means to serve with a joyful heart and were truly the hands and feet of Christ.
All of the expenses related to Mission Makeover such as paint, sanders, rollers, deck stain, brick pavers, dirt, and much more are paid for by our fundraising activities such as Fish Fry’s during Lent, bake sales, can and bottle drives, and by the generous donations from our Knights of Columbus, John and Deborah Walters, and the 55 and Over Club. We could not do this without them!
On Thursday evening of last week we had a family dinner that was provided by Italia Gardens and families watched a slide show presentation of what our week was like.
Thanks to (name removed for website publication), who was our photographer, we were able to visit every site the students went to. Great job!
During our family dinner we also took the opportunity to thank all the volunteers who work with us over the course of the week – the Mission Makeover team, the rosary mak-ers who provided rosaries for all the students and also prayed for them during the week, the parents who drove to sites and helped make lunches and dinners. We extend a special thanks to Kayla Betts, who came everyday and helped at our front desk, and Kelly Teem who helped everyday wherever she was needed. She also brought her son who became our official mascot! A special thank you also to Pat Atkinson and his girls, who came to Brookdale and provided a musical production for the residents.
It seems that someone is always inadvertently not mentioned and that is true for this event. Phil Dixner was not mentioned as part of the Mission Makeover team and this was a huge oversight! Phil Dixner joined our team two years ago when we were struggling with our Lenten Dinners without having fried fish (our master fryer moved on to other endeavors leaving us without a fryer). Phil saw the problem and in true Phil-fashion came and presented a solution which was to have him volunteer to be our master fryer at every Lenten Dinner. He works tirelessly at making these dinners a success and we could not do it without him! So sorry for the oversight!
An additional special thanks to Steve Sampson who worked this past weekend to finish up electrical work and touch-up painting details at Sr. Sharon’s (new) house. We will also be helping her move in a couple weeks and Steve will be overseeing this project. Anyone interested in helping her move can call the parish office.
We are starting to plan the Mission Makeover 2018 edition and hope that you will all support our fundraising endeavors!
Respectfully submitted by Jan Gravel on behalf of the Mission Makeover team, Ray Belanger, Phil Dixner, Jan Gravel, Mary Jo Jones, Sheila Konieczny, Luci Peterman, Jim and Gretchen Polzin-Ridley, Steve and Tamara Sampson and Sam Seymour (Sam joined our team this year as kitchen manager and our food service was the best it has been).