St. William Youth Ministry, Brunswick Mission ‘09: ‘Operation Dixville 3’
For the week of June 22nd-25th, seventeen St. William middle school and high school youth and their adult leader’s, participated in ‘Operation Dixville 3’ a mission to serve some of the poorest areas in our local community.
Our Catholic youth group joined with other youth from the First Baptist Church, Brunswick, the Wesley Methodist Church, SSI, and the SuperWow participants from Atlanta. It was a real ecumenical experience. During the day we worked alongside each other cleaning, clipping, mowing, clearing yards, pressure washing, and scraping and painting houses. The weather was very hot and humid and so besides getting quite dirty, a lot of water and Gatorade was consumed.
At the end of each work day the youth showered and cleaned up through the generosity of the local YWCA. Dinner was eaten back at the parish hall having been prepared by more volunteer parents. The youth also slept over in the parish hall, which really helped to make the experience a ‘camp’. After dinner they prepared their own lunches to be ready for the next day of service.
The evenings included various activities: Movies, games at the hall, attending a SuperWow concert/presentation, putt-putt golf, and a pizza/ice cream night.
We would like to thank the many parents and volunteers that donated the Gatorade, water, food items and many hours of their time. A special thank you to the local businesses of McDonald’s and Sal’s pizzeria for their donations!
Note: this is the third year that the First Baptist church has worked with the city of Brunswick to help with community restoration. In their first year of operation, the area of Brunswick, known as ‘Dixville’ was their first mission. Last year the area known as ‘Arco’ was worked on. This year was the ‘Norwich corridor’. This is the first year that Wesley Methodist church and St. William Catholic church joined them.
