August 2015 Youth Ministry Report
Summer Service/Mission Experiences:
Catholics in Action was held on June 28-30th this summer and was a great experience for our students.
Attending this year was Abby Boeding and Joseph Hummel from St Mary's, Conrad Hellman, Josh and
Elizabeth Barr from Holy Family, Maggie Baker from St. James and Eryn Anderson from St. John's.
These seven youth did a variety of task throughout the three days, one of these task was to build a playground
for a trailer park of low income families. The trailer park residents helped our CIA members construct the
$3000 playground equipment. The owners paid for the equipment and the Catholic Charities of the Diocese
donated $ 800 to pay for the mulch.
Our youth are not only helped the community build things, but also learn the Catholic Social Teachings
that are required to help our brothers and sisters in need. We also worked at Ronald McDonald House,
built bee hives with Bishop Amos and spent time at various nursing homes in Iowa City. CIA's goal is for
our students to bring CIA into our local area. Next year parishes will be sending in a request to host CIA
for the diocese.
Our seven youth wrote and presented a proposal to move CIA to Ft. Madison for the summer of 2016.
Elizabeth Barr spoke for the group and now we need to submit a written proposal to the diocese by Sept.1st.
If selected, we will host 100 high school students and adults and will be working at a variety of worksites.
If you would be interested in helping with the planning, contact me at 316-2115.
Just 5 Days is a Junior High Experience in Davenport and was held on July 20-24th. Junior high students
from around the country were invited to attend this five day service/mission experience. Joining us this year
was James Flattery, our visiting seminarian from Colfax.
Young Neighbors in Action is a High School Experience in Omaha at the Winnebago Indian Reservation
and was held July 19-24th. Mick and Sue Anderson were the adult chaperones for our students and had three
high school students in tow.. The three students attending were: Maggie Baker of St. James, Joseph
Hummel of St. Mary's, Elsie Cardona of Holy Family. Anna Hemann was sick and could not attend.
Our group worked for the Winnebago Indians in a variety of jobs. One of the highlights was to experience
a Pow-Wow. They had a chance to see the Native Americans in full dress. Mick Anderson had the
opportunity to raise an American flag was a veteran of the Vietnam War. Mick joined other veterans and the
warriors of Winnebago to raise 75 flags to honor all the vets and warriors of the United States.
We will have pictures and a slide show on August 22 and 23rd in the O-Center for everyone to enjoy.
Please join us after each Mass to see what our students have been up to this summer.
End of the Month Meals were held on July 28th and 30th at St. Luke's in Fort Madison. This experience
opens our eyes to the need of our brothers and sisters in our local area. Thanks to everyone that took time
from their schedules to help. Special thanks to Rebecca for preparing the food for both nights.
Mike Linnenbrink
Coordinator of Youth Ministry