Summer of Service

9/6/2024

Service to others is essential to living out our Catholic faith. In addition to a variety of service opportunities provided throughout the school year, students are invited to participate in summer service projects locally and internationally. This year's opportunities included:

Praying Pelicans Missions

On a service trip to Puerto Rico, students and faculty partnered with The Methodist Church of Charles Wesley in San Juan to create and execute a Vacation Bible School program in the mornings for the parish and neighboring kids. The afternoon was filled with work projects to beautify the campus and make it a safer and more sustainable environment. They also ministered and gave food to a community suffering from homelessness at a train station. In their free time, they visited El Yunque (the national rainforest), Luquillo Beach, and Old San Juan.

Irvington Peace Park

The Irvington Peace Park Summer Camp is a community effort to give the children of Irvington a week to grow through tutoring, activities, and fun. This daily camp is a way to connect with our neighbors in Irvington and to give back through direct one-on-one ministry with the camp participants. Volunteers helped run the camp and lead the children through the various sections of the day.

Eastern Shore of Virginia
This summer, 11 Mount men joined Mr. Higgins and the Missioners of Christ in Eastern Shore, Virginia, to serve migrant worker families. Each evening, they assisted St. Peter's migrant ministry by traveling to a different men's migrant worker camp and providing a Spanish Mass for the migrant workers. They helped with the Mass including altar serving and delivering the readings in Spanish. They also got to know the men before and after Mass. In solidarity with the migrant workers who labor all day in the fields, our students went gleaning, picking potatoes. Other tasks included helping the elderly with yardwork and leading a Vacation Bible School for children of migrant families. It rained all week, but that only strengthened the brotherhood. One day the MSJ minibus got stuck in the mud and all the boys had to work together to push it free. They roared in victory when the bus was finally out.

Bethlehem Farm

In an immersive Appalachian experience, students served alongside their peers and the community in Alderson, West Virginia. They completed home repairs, learned about sustainable farming practices, built relationships, and explored their spirituality and their role in caring for creation while befriending donkeys, cats, and chickens.

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