Spring break time of service for VCU, ODU campus ministries
Thirteen students from Old Dominion University and Virginia Commonwealth University tried something different this year, turning their spring break into a memorable Lenten journey.
The students spent the week of March 5-10 in Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore, volunteering at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church and Cape Charles Christian School.
“We just did things that typically go unnoticed,” Nathan Laurin, a senior at ODU, said. “I mean, no one wants to weed, really, or to organize a whole basement, but the fact that we did the things no one else wants to do reminded me of the passage about Martha and Mary.”
It was a theme that tied the trip together, Laurin said, as days spent scrubbing, painting and making repairs were interwoven with quieter times — time to attend daily Mass or to say a rosary on the beach. A spring cleaning for a church, a school and the soul.
“I learned a lot about my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ,” VCU junior Katrina Sian said. “I saw their beauty in the gifts that they were able to demonstrate in the service projects we did. And it was just a nice break away from all the schoolwork that I’ve been doing. It was a very rewarding experience.”
In faith and friendship
Marissa O’Neil, Catholic campus minster at ODU, said that she and Morgan Yost, CCM minister at VCU, decided to bring their schools together for the trip when they discovered that their respective spring breaks fell during the same week.
“Since we’re both the sole staff member at each CCM, other than our chaplains, we thought it would be great to come together for this larger project, to have that support,” she said.
In looking for service opportunities within an easy distance for student drivers, the campus ministers turned toward the Eastern Shore.
“It’s a part of our diocese and a part of our state that tends to get forgotten,” O’Neil said. “I don’t know how many maps I’ve seen where the Eastern Shore is not included on a map of Virginia.”
The students found it easy to connect from the start, Yost said, since ODU and VCU are similar in being urban campuses.
“It was cool for them to see that there are other college students out there who want to give up their time on spring break,” she said, “and who want to join together in prayer and community and give back in this big and powerful way.”
Thomas Ames, a senior at VCU, said he enjoyed meeting other CCM students on the trip, as well as making connections with those in the local community, particularly with the middle schoolers at Cape Charles Christian School.
“We got to play soccer with them, and it was amazing to see how much they looked up to us,” he said.
He hoped that spending time with the college students might give the middle schoolers a glimpse into opportunities that they, too, might enjoy, he said, inspiring them to set their sights on college, just as he had once been inspired.
“I remember, when I was younger, looking up to the older kids, too,” he said, “so that was a cool experience for me.”
Growing in faith
“For me, I would say, it was about growing in my faith,” said Arely Rangel-Gomez, a freshman at ODU. “We did the rosary, we went to Mass several times a week and had reflection.”
When she’s on campus, she said, she’s kept busy with schoolwork, so she appreciated the time to embrace a “Mary” frame of mind.
Ames found inspiration, he said, in spending time with Father Michael Breslin, pastor of St. Charles.
“Seeing Father Michael’s faith, seeing him at the daily Mass, the way he came out and even helped the students — getting out there to help us with the gardening — was amazing,” he said.
“We were giving up our spring break,” Laurin said. “While everyone else was doing, like, ‘Spring Break’ sort of things, we were doing service things. I just found it pretty fulfilling, to give it up.”
Sense of connection
The students were humbled by the gratitude expressed to them by those at the church and school, they said, as much as they found the work itself humbling — jobs that included staining picnic benches, scrubbing out garbage cans and even hauling an old toilet to the dump. They were things that needed to be done but are hardly a day on the beach.
“I am particularly proud of organizing the Cape Charles School basement,” Sian said, laughing.
The school plans to make good use of the newly-cleared out space, she said, as a place to hold tornado drills and as a shelter.
Sian said one of her favorite moments of the trip came when Cape Charles Christian School invited the college students to an ice cream social.
“The school, as a huge ‘thank you’ for the work that we did, invited us back for some delicious vanilla ice cream and to hang out with some of the kiddos,” she said. “Kids are just absolute joys.”
The children seemed to enjoy meeting students from Norfolk and Richmond, she said, as much as the collegians enjoyed the hospitality and friendship they found in Cape Charles.
“It was nice to have a different experience,” Rangel-Gomez said. “I’m used to my own place, here in Norfolk, so going to a smaller community and seeing how people are more connected was very nice.”
“It was eye-opening to see how a small group of college students can make a small impact on a small town,” Laurin said. “I wish I wasn’t a senior, so I could experience it all again.”