More Than Just Service

WRITTEN BY: Kelly Naas, Public Relations Diva

It’s always incredible to stop and think about the BIGNESS that is Catholic HEART Workcamp. After all the planning, fundraising, preparation, and prayer that goes into arriving at camp...you quickly become a part of something BIGGER than yourself. Gathered together, you create a once in a lifetime team, and in a community, for people you don’t even know...you SERVE.  Joined with the multiplication of other cities, camps, teams, and teens around the country, lives are changed and hope is restored simply by the work of your hands. Who is serving through CHWC and how much of an impact does a summer of CHWC have on our world? Good question! We wondered the same things; check out some of these numbers for our 2011 summer!

11,712 campers
484 Groups
94 Priests
44 cities
1,563 Work teams
1,998 Residents and agencies were served

Catholic HEART Workcamp is much more than a week of service that simply ends when our participants depart home after camp. It is a sacrificial experience that has the power to strengthen faith and transform lives long beyond the bus ride home. Though we never know the exact way our campers are impacted, it is a testimony to our mission and ministry when we hear of stories where life and camp intertwine, coming full circle to prove that the CHWC experience is serving our participants as they too are serving.

In closing here is a letter we recieved from one of the residents that was served this summer.

In July this year, my husband and I were blessed to have a team from CHWC come to our home. We are elderly, living on a pension and unable to tackle the task of painting the outside of our house.  The team not only did that but also painted two rooms inside and weeded our large yard.  We are so grateful for CHWC and for the opportunity to meet young people and their chaperones who are willing to give time and effort into helping those in need.   We pray God’s blessing on these camps and those who take part in them and send our sincere thanks.
Sincerely, Cynthia & Ernie Seddon
P.S.-We have written to the Holy Father expressing our appreciation.

Story from a Camper.....

Growing up I had a cousin named Carolyn, who was just three months younger than me. She was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of Autism. She had a lot of difficulty in school, making friends and staying out of trouble. Both of these things impacted her learning. She changed schools a lot and she was just always looking for her place in the world.

When I was a senior in high school, my youth group planned a trip to Nashville, TN to go to Catholic Heart Work Camp. My mom suggested that Carolyn drive down from Saint Louis, Missouri to go to camp with my youth group in Memphis. I hesitated selfishly as I weighed the options and what it would cost me personally. I agreed that it would be an excellent opportunity for her, and she ended up coming.

On the three hour bus ride, Carolyn had already started to make friends with other people in my youth group. By the time the camp started, she was fully involved in the camp.

From the opening song at the first program, when she was allowed (and encouraged!) to be silly and get into it, she found her niche. CHWC was a perfect catalyst for her to find a way to be herself and be accepted. She did work projects and helped others in a way she never would have been able to do without the CHWC setting. More importantly she built relationships with people who accepted her without question. She felt a connection with God that had never been present before.

Coincidently (or not so coincidently I guess) there was a youth group from Saint Louis that was at the same camp as us. The youth leader and several of the members of the youth group made an effort to welcome Carolyn and invite her to join them at their weekly youth group events. When school started again, her mom drove her 30 minutes away to go to the youth group events at that church. Like everyone else, her mom noticed a change that had taken place in Carolyn and wanted to allow her to build those relationships.

I always knew that Carolyn had been heavily impacted by the experience at Catholic Heart. Years later we were sitting at her kitchen counter just chit-chatting. She was telling me about a tattoo her friend was thinking about getting. I asked her if she had any new tattoos she hadn’t told me about. Then she showed me the “Shift 2 Degrees” symbol she had gotten tattooed on her side. It wasn’t a large area that was inked, but it spoke volumes to me.

It was then that I realized that sometimes it truly only takes 2 Degrees.

Merchandise added to Store

Due to its popularity at camp the Boo-Yah! shirt is now for sale in the CHWC Store!

Also all of the summary videos and pictures CD's are completed so they are available to purchase.

Spreading the Brotherly Love....

Every year Catholic HEART Workcamp grows, reaching new people and doing

work in communities across the country. Last week, CHWC took

Philadelphia by storm for the first time! And what better place than the

City of Brotherly Love to live life uncovered and spread the CHWC love.

Among the 35 work groups working in the city, three groups worked at Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) Parish in the Kensington neighborhood of the city. Clearing nearly a hundred bags of garbage from neighborhood streets, painting the Visitation BVM School cafeteria, and

renovating a local convent, these groups made a monumental difference.

In the process they also learned that This Place Matters.

Visitation is currently one of a hundred finalists in the national This

Place Matters competition run by the Historic Trust for Historic

Preservation. In order to win though, Visitation needs votes! Currently

ranked 7th in the nation, Visitation will use the prize to continue the

outreach efforts of the Parish, which sustain the neighborhood and are

estimated at a value of $22 million. To learn more about the work

Visitation does and to cast your vote visit:

http://www.preservationnation.org/take-action/this-place-matters/community-challenge/places/visitation-bvm-parish.html

Voting runs through the end of June. Each e-mail address can only vote

once, so vote with every address you have!

This is a great way to continue the work that begins at CHWC and allows

the agencies we work with to flourish! So take a minute- share it with

your friends- vote & spread the brotherly love!

What an Unbelievable 4 Days

What can 407 Catholic HEART Workcampers do in a community in 4 days?
At 117 different houses we scrapped and painted, 11 houses on the outside, 96 rooms inside, 3 sets of kitchen cabinets, 7 unattached garages, 14 sheds, 3 swing sets, cleaned and repaired 12 bathrooms, completely tore down and built a new deck, rototilled 3 yards, power washed 14 homes, removed 15 stumps, repaired or moved  4 electrical services, assisted 12 homeowners with their computers, removed and replaced carpet 2 homes, washed over 500 windows inside and out, scrubbed 20 houses inside entirely, reset or replace 15 toilets, repaired and painted 22 doors, totally vacuumed 18 houses, fixed 12 screens, hung 5 ceiling fans,  repaired 3 swamp coolers, 7 floors, 6 light fixtures, 5 leaky faucets, 12 drywall jobs, 2 garbage disposals,  repaired 12 decks, painted 24 decks,  repaired and painted 1000 foot of fence, cleaned and repaired 6000 foot of gutters, poured a concrete sidewalk, fixed 3 concrete steps, help plant and weed 18 gardens, pulled weeds at 46 different homes, trimmed and cut grass at 48 homes, varnished 5 staircases or tables, laid mulch at 36 homes, built one clothes line, repaired 5 sprinkler system, built 4 iron hand rails, moved and help build 12 stone gardens, help plant flowers at 9 houses, sorted 1000’s of books to be sent to library in Kenya, removed 7 old appliances, 50 old tires, cut down over 50 trees, cut and trimmed bushes at many houses, but more than that we removed over 350 compressed cubic yards of trash from our neighborhood.  But more important than all that.  These 407 campers brought excitement for life and Christ to the homeowners.
WHAT AN UNBELIEVABLE 4 DAYS.

-Roger Gudenkauf, CHWC Denver Manager

Staff Training #2

The first staff is on the road, and teams 2,5&6A are here for a week of training. Here are pictures of the teams.

TEAM 2

TEAM 5

 TEAM 6A

Introducing CHWC 2011 Staff

Well Staff Training is upon us and staff member from all over the country are here in Orlando for a week of training before they leave for an adventure of a lifetime. There are 3 teams here this week and three come next week. Here are pictures of the teams.

TEAM 1A

TEAM 3A

TEAM 4A