News

Students find another way ...
... service project beckons them

Seventh in a series on Bishop's Appeal

	TAKING A BREAK: Kendra Bystricky, Erin Lapin, Luke Gietman and Beth Berke from the UW-Oshkosh Newman Center work on a construction project in last year's Alternate Spring Break service project. (Photo courtesy of the UW-Oshkosh Newman Center)

Editor's note: The annual Bishop's Appeal supports numerous services to help parishes, individuals and families. One of these is campus ministry at colleges through the Pastoral Services Department.

Spring break. That glorious week when students forget about stacks of textbooks and all-night study sessions, and turn their thoughts to marathon road trips to warmer climates.

For 16 college students in the Green Bay Diocese, a warmer climate is their destination, but volunteerism is their mission.

They will be going on the Alternative Spring Break, a seven-day mission for college students to serve an impoverished community in the United States, said Laurie Svatek, the diocese's campus minister at UW-Green Bay's Ecumenical Center.

Seven students from UW-Oshkosh and nine from UW-Green Bay will travel 867 miles to Pearisburg, Va. Once there, they will help finish a Habitat for Humanity house that was started last spring, build a deck for an adult daycare facility, install a merry-go-round in the town park and judge a school science/social science studies fair.

Stepping Together in Faith 2003 Bishop's Appeal
Related articles ... from March 7, 2003 issue: • Youth urged: Dive into life, faith and trust in Jesus' help from Feb. 28, 2003 issue: • Helping parishes to build House of the Lord from Feb. 21, 2003 issue: • Theology talks tap into young adult interests from Feb. 14, 2003 issue: • Appeal helps couple make adoption possible from Feb. 7, 2003 issue: • Weekend helps couples avoid marital rocks • An Appeal based on the Gospel from Jan. 31, 2003 issue: • Stop and consider all the people Appeal helps • Pie chart showing how contributions to Bishop's Appeal are divided • TEC enriches and plants seeds

Cost of the trip is $125 per student, which covers program expenses. A grant from the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross will offset the cost of renting the van and buying gas.

One student participating in the Alternative Spring Break is Kimberly Bartlein, a UWGB freshman from St. Ambrose Parish in Wabeno. She heard about the trip from Svatek, whose ministry is funded by the Bishop's Appeal.

Bartlein originally planned to work and save some money during spring break, "but I listened to much wiser people than I and decided to go (on the Alternative Spring Break trip). These wiser people told me that I will be working the rest of my life, so I may as well go on this trip that might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'm glad I listened to them. I do think this will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget."

If history is any indicator, she's right.

Karen Vanden Heuvel, campus minister at UW-Oshkosh's Newman Center, said feedback has been great from previous participants.

Students call it "the best trip they've been on and return with priorities that are different," says Vanden Heuvel, who has coordinated an Alternative Spring Break trip each of the three years she has been with the Newman Center, which is supported by the Bishop's Appeal.

In addition to the Alternative Spring Break, Vanden Heuvel also offers students work retreats for Habitat for Humanity and the Christian Appalachian Project. Ten students will participate in each of these trips -- the maximum number allowed by the coordinating organizations.

Pearisburg is in central Virginia in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. Vanden Heuvel says the Pearisburg trip is a "beautiful way to ease into a work program" because the townspeople and its leaders are extremely hospitable.

"I liked how awesome Pearisburg's community was -- generous, outgoing, fun, endearing and faithful," says Christy Bock, a UW-Oshkosh sophomore from St. Peter the Fisherman Parish in Eagle River who participated in last year's Alternative Spring Break and is going again this year.

The good word about Pearisburg has been received in Green Bay.

"I'm looking forward to getting to know new people, helping a community, and I'm also looking forward to learning more about myself," says Bartlein. "I'm looking forward to a challenging, but very rewarding trip."

Among the challenges will be the spartan accommodations. Each student will sleep on a cot at the Community Center and will shower at the local high school. What they might lack in amenities will be made up at evening meals, which will be provided by local civic clubs and church groups.

Bishop's Appeal What: Bishop's Appeal, the Green Bay Diocese's annual fund-raiser to support diocesan programs and services offered to parishes and individuals. Where: All parishes in the diocese. When: Right now. How: Making a cash, check, credit card (Mastercard, Visa and Discover) or pledge donation. Materials have been sent to homes and also are available through parishes. Some employers offer matching gift programs, for which Catholic Charities may qualify, since it serves the general public; additional information is available through Human Resources departments. Theme: Stepping Together in Faith. Target: $4.8 million.

"It's about stretching people's comfort zone and living the faith," says Svatek. "For a lot of students this is their first experience with poverty. And unless you've experienced it, it's hard to know its impact."

Bartlein has found that poverty comes in many shapes and sizes.

"I learned a lot about poverty when I traveled to New York. I also saw poverty in my own small town, but poverty is different no matter where anybody goes," she says. "I'm sure I'll come back from this trip knowing 100 times more than what I know."

Bartlein also anticipates a change in her faith.

"Well, you know how people say, 'You don't know what you've got until you lose it.' I think this trip will influence me by making me realize what I really do have, and with that I will grow in my faith. I will appreciate the things God has given me instead of complaining about what God hasn't given me."

For Svatek, the trip could have a lifelong effect on the students: "Hopefully they'll graduate, join a parish and continue this ministry of living out the Gospel call."