Workfest 2009: Day Two

Workfest: Day Two. This was our first full day of work. It began with a great breakfast, biscuits and gravy, hot apple sauce, granola. I start the day off a little earlier than the rest of our team. I get up at 5 AM, shower and then join the men at the lodge. We sit near the fire place, drink coffee, talk and tell lame jokes. I love it.

We had our first morning devotion. I love that each school is in charge of devotion, the variety is interesting and it is a great way to begin and end each day.

We had our safety orientation, it consisted of a rather entertaining video on “safety fashion” and it appeared to keep everyone’s interest. It was a vast improvement over last years important but dry presentation.

We then went to our various sites. I was on the Green Two Team, clearly the best team at Camp Caleb! Each team had a lot of work cut out for them. Some drove 30 minutes, others an hour and a half to get to their worksite. Some worked in towns, others hollers or hills. Our families were with us and getting to know the people we were working for was the best part of the week.

Some teams tore houses down and rebuilt almost totally new homes, others replaced floors, roofs, doors and walls. We put up a metal roof, put in new windows and doors and paneled the living room.

We begin each day with gathering in a circle and praying at the site. We pray again at lunch time and that is also a time of sharing. For many teams this is one of the best times of the work day.

We have a great team. We are from Indiana, Michigan. Connecticut, Maine, Washington D.C. and Florida. The members are all very different. However, they are also all easy to get along with, interesting, hard-workers and funny.

When we get home we are tired. We clean up and then go to the lodge to eat. After dinner and devotion we have two presentations to listen to. One on Appalachian history and culture and the other on “Perspective on Poverty.” After the lectures it was free time. We had our USF reflections and then most of us went to bed, we were tired! All and all, it was a very good day.

The H2O Project

I am a Secular Franciscan, well almost. My final profession is in two months. Anyway, our fraternity is participating in The H2o Project. We are working with Franciscan Youth USA.

I brought the project to our Graduate Psychology Club, they are now participating in the H2o Project. A number of my undergrads are also taking the pledge, only drinking tap water and thinking about people they may never know but whom they are determined to help.

So, like last year I am thinking about and desiring pop, lattes, malts, merlot, mead even soy milk! Why, because I am only drinking water. Why? So my very mild discomfort will remind me of those who suffer daily. The moneys we would have all spent on drinks during a two week period will now be used to build wells.

This is a great project. To learn more about The H2O Project and how you can participate watch the video below.

Peace and all Good,
Carl


The H2O Project

So, How BIG is Workfest 2009?

So, how big is Workfest 2009? Well, the program is based out of two camps, Camp A.J. and Camp Caleb. It spans four weeks. There are 42 participating schools. Most schools have between 10-12 participants and few have 15 volunteers. That is a lot of free labor. That is a lot of opportunities to serve, to network, to make new friends and a huge opportunity to have fun.

42 schools from the Eastern seaboard, the Midwest and the South result in a lot of ripples. This is significant impact. 42 schools results in a lot of folks going back home touched by Appalachia, touched by servanthood and touched by Christian sister and brotherhood.

Below are a list of the participating schools. We attended during week two and I highlighted the schools that made up Camp Caleb. We were awesome!

Week 1 March 1-6, 2009
• Marywood University
• Bellarmine University
• Saint Xavier University
• Fairfield University
• DeSales University
• Indiana University of PA
• California University of PA
• Valparaiso University

Week 2 March 8-13, 2009
• St Cloud State University
• University of Florida--Gainesville
• University of Notre Dame
• UNC Chapel Hill
• Univ of Connecticut St Thomas Aquinas
• University of Saint Francis
•College of St Scholastica
• Aquinas College
•American University
•Saint Joseph College of Maine
• College of Mount St. Joseph
• UNC Wilmington
• St Richard Parish
• Michigan State University

Week 3 March 15-20, 2009
• University Wisconsin-Stevens Point
• Saint Peter's College
• Canisius College
• Caldwell College
• Macomb Community College
• St Norbert College
• Ripon College
• College of Mt Saint Vincent
• Saint Michael's College
• Eastern Illinois University
• University of MN-Duluth
• Millikin University
• Western Illinois University
• University of Scranton

Week 4 March 22-27
• University of Illinois-Chicago
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Missouri-Columbia
• University of Chicago
• University of Oregon
• Ohio State Univ--Lima/Rhodes

Workfest 2009: Day One

Day one: We all arrive at the University of Saint Francis at 6:00 A.M. Since the time change was only a few hours prior to this we are really arriving at what feels like 5:00 A.M. It is rainy and the 12 of us, 9 students and 3 faculty members load up our two vans and we are on the way to Workfest 2009.

We drive all day with only a lunch break and a couple of pit stops. However, an hour and a half from camp we stop at Natural Bridge State Park. We all take a hike. We walk up and up and up and….up to a natural rock bridge. We climb, we look, we take photos and we ponder. It is a great break. The valleys, vistas, and the lodge we stop at our stunning. Then it is back to our road trip.

By now the roads are curving, going through hills, the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. We drive past hollers, rivers, farms and towns.

And then we arrive.. We are at Camp Caleb. We register and go to our cabins. Afterwards we have our first dinner, meet with the other six schools and then have orientation.

During the orientation USF leads the lodge in singing Happy Birthday to me. That was cool, I was surpised. It felt good that we were already participating in a full-team activity! There was a sense of "us". It was also great to see friends from last year. No doubt about it, this is going to be a great week.

I am trying to use our video cam. Alfred Hitchcock I am not. I am not focused, the camera is not always focused or even has it lens open all the time! Still, my goal is to record some of the people and events this week and that is an exciting addition to the trip.

GO WORKFEST!

Workfest 2009: We're Back!

We're back! The University of Saint Francis Fort Wayne team just returned from our mission trip to Eastern Kentucky. We were part of Workfest 2009. We were sponsored by Campus Ministry. Workfest is one of many programs that are part of Christian Appalachian Project. We stayed at Camp Caleb which is right outside Flat Gap Kentucky.

We had a great experience. There were students from seven different colleges and universities. They came from Michigan, Indiana, Florida, Connecticut, Maine and Washington D.C. The students made up a diverse group including students from Malaysia and France.

We worked on homes from all over the area. Workfest is a time of intense free labor, a time of fixing up the homes of “in need” home owners in the Eastern Kentucky part of Appalachia. Our jobs are to be servants and to learn from the families we work with. The students were broken up into various teams that reflected ability not school of origin. The students worked in the hills, hollers and towns. Some of us replaced windows, doors and roofs others demolished homes and rebuilt them.

We prayed together, ate together, danced together and sang together. Mostly, we laughed together and sometimes we shed a tear. It was a time of intense labor but also a time of intense emotion and focus.

We experienced so much over a short period of time. The weather began with rain, changed to a sunny 78 degrees and ended in a beautiful snow fall. Our Saint Francis team bonded. We were a diverse and wonderful group of people, I like us very much! We thought about USF often and were grateful to Campus Ministry and especially Jan Paterson our director for making this trip a reality. Over the next couple of weeks I will be writing about Workfest 2009. I will have photos of the trip and hopefully some video clips. I will also welcome contributions (articles/journal entries/musings) from fellow Workfest attendees.

So, as we say, after breakfast and morning devotions, “GO WORKFEST”

USF, Where are You?

Rugged and Wild Kentucky

We are ready, we are excited and we are going! Time to join our fellow universities in Eastern Kentucky for Workfest 2009. Time to visit the hills and the hollers, to listen to country music fresh off the pickin banjo, time for corn bread and fried food. It is especially time for beautiful country, new friends and great fellowship.

“University of Saint Francis, where are you?”
“Right here, right here!”

Now, as Big Harold told us last year, we aint gonna be in the middle of nowhere, but you sure enuff can see it from where we’re standing!

So, time to make a difference, time to be transformed, time to represent.


Loretta Lynn - Coal Miner's Daughter

Secular Franciscans Praying for India

The Secular Franciscans of the United States are instituting a “perpetual” novena for at least one year on behalf of the suffering people both home and abroad especially for those in Orissa, India. This is modeled after last years prayers for Darfur. Every day for the next year, members of the SFO will be praying the novena prayer. For this to happen, 5 Regional fraternities are assigned to cover each month. To make sure we cover the entire month, there will be four to five “waves” of the novena, each starting on Sunday. People are assigned to these waves by Region. This "wave" of prayers will increase solidarity with our brothers and sisters in India. It will also increase our own awareness of the situation at the individual, fraternity, regional and national level.

The perpetual novena recognizes the crisis that is taking place in Orissa India. This is the sight of violence, destruction of homes and churches and the death of Christians by fanatical Hindus. It is clear that those perpetuating this violence do not represent the majority of Hindus or the multi-cultural nation. The violence however threatens the very existence of one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. Prayer and action is needed.

Novena Prayer of Intercession

Merciful Father, Prince of Peace, Spirit of Wisdom and Compassion, please look with mercy upon our suffering brothers and sisters here at home and around the world, [particularly in Orissa]. We humbly pray:

For those who have been subjected to violence, and their families, we ask for healing, consolation, and relief of further suffering.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

For those who have done violence, we ask for healing, forgiveness, and the grace of conversion.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

For those in authority throughout the world, we ask wisdom, creativity, compassion and courage in addressing these situations.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Lord Jesus, Your Sacred Heart burns for love of all your people. Please place in our hearts that same love and inspire us to have the courage, wisdom and ingenuity to take what measures we can personally to relieve the suffering of our brothers and sisters. We pray this in the Name of Jesus, our Lord, through the intercession of the sorrowful and immaculate Heart of Mary.

Memorare: Remember oh most gracious Virgin Mary that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence I fly unto thee, oh Virgin of Virgins, my mother. To thee to I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. Oh mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen


Attacks haunt displaced Christians in east India