Local youth on a mission

This month, a dedicated team of local young people and adult chaperones ventured deep into the American south on a mission to help others and grow in their faith. From July 11 through the 19, members of One Degree Youth Ministry and their supporters made their way to Lake Charles, Louisiana, for seven days of community service, reflection, prayer and team bonding. Last week, we spoke with One Degree Coordinator Jessica Phillips to learn more about this year's experience.

Since 2016, One Degree Youth Ministry has facilitated an annual faith-based service trip for area high school students and young adults. According to One Degree, these trips are aimed at "taking the hands and feet of Jesus to other areas" and helping those in need while growing in their faith. Over the years, groups have traveled to destinations including Columbus, Ohio; Houston, Texas; and Jenkins, Kentucky.

For this year's trip, the group opted to return to one of their previous destinations–Lake Charles, Louisiana–for a fourth year. Jessica Phillips says they chose to return because the people there "have become like family to us". This year, sixteen high schoolers and young adults made the journey to Lake Charles, accompanied by six adult chaperones–Jessica Phillips, Patrick Phillips, Carl Nelson, Nick Klika, Jeff Van Rens and Julie Noth and a seminarian from the Diocese of Green Bay.

The team set out south on Saturday, July 11, leaving All Saints in the early morning after receiving a parting blessing from Deacon Cal Naidl. After a day of traveling, they spent the night at St. Louis Catholic Church in Memphis, Tennessee, before continuing to Louisiana the next morning. They arrived in Lake Charles Sunday evening and moved into their home away from home for the week. Each time the group visits Lake Charles, they are hosted by the Mitch Martin family who provide them with a homebase to gather, sleep, eat and clean up between days of work. Mitch Martin and Ken LeBlanc, better known as “Trooper”, are both contractors who Phillips says are “men of great faith” and who guide the group in their projects and join them in prayer throughout the week.

This year, the workers split into two groups with one assisting a local couple they had worked with last year by helping them remove an old deck and install a safety railing on the back of their house. The other group worked at the retreat property where they built a side-by-side, two-story pavilion that will serve future mission groups as a place to hold Mass, team building exercises, speakers and more.

Phillips explained their group was met with some adversity this year in the form of Mother Nature. For the first two-and-a-half days in Louisiana, rain poured down relentlessly. Then, as Jessica puts it, “When the rain shut off, the heat turned up,” with temperatures reaching 106°-110° fahrenheit. Still, she says, “The young people and chaperones rose to the occasion and persevered.” Phillips also noted this year’s trip featured a number of new faces joining the team, and it was great to see the “veterans” help them and get them acclimated to all the experiences involved.

After a week of working and expanding their faith, the sixteen young adults and six chaperones made their way back up to Denmark, arriving back to All Saints for a special Mass last Sunday afternoon. This year’s One Degree Youth Mission Trip was another huge success and was once again made possible due to a caring group of young people as well as their dedicated team of chaperones.